guardian
//ˈɡɑː.dɪ.ən//
Forms
- Plural
- guardians
Definitions
1.Someone who guards, watches over, or protects.
- As your Senior Tutor, I am your moral guardian,’ he said at last. ‘A moral guardian yearns for an immoral ward and the Lord has provided.
2.A person legally responsible for a minor (in loco parentis).
3.A person legally responsible for an incompetent person.
4.A superior in a Franciscan monastery.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4821
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English gardein, garden, (also wardein, > Modern English warden), from Old French guardein, from the verb guarder, of Germanic origin.
Compare French gardien.
Doublet of warden.
By surface analysis, guard + -ian.