sexton

UK: /ˈsɛkstən/ US: /ˈsɛkstən/ ,(sek′stən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

sex•ton /ˈsɛkstən/   n. [countable]

1. Religion an official who maintains a church or a synagogue.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

sex•ton  (sek′stən), n. 

1. Religion an official of a church charged with taking care of the edifice and its contents, ringing the bell, etc., and sometimes with burying the dead.
2. Judaism an official who maintains a synagogue and its religious articles, chants the designated portion of the Torah on prescribed days, and assists the cantor in conducting services on festivals.

• Anglo-French segerstaine sacristan
• Middle English sexteyn, sekesteyn, syncopated variant of segerstane, secristeyn 1275–1325

sex′ton•ship′, n. 

Sex•ton  (sek′stən), n. 

1. Biographical Anne (Harvey), 1928–74, U.S. poet.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

sexton / ˈsɛkstən/ noun

1. a person employed to act as caretaker of a church and its contents and graveyard, and often also as bell-ringer, gravedigger, etc

Etymology: 14th Century: from Old French secrestein, from Medieval Latin sacristānus sacristan