bishopess

From bishop +‎ -ess.

• IPA^(key): /bɪʃ.əˈpɛs/

bishopess (plural bishopesses)

1. A female bishop.
   • 2003, Patrick Collinson, Elizabethans:

     Presently there were bishopesses as well as priestesses, splendidly arrayed in chasubles and diadems. These were, from a strictly canonical point of view, the first validly ordained women priests.

2. The wife of a bishop.

• “bishopess”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “bishopess”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.