doyen

1. (obsolete) A commander in charge of ten men.obsolete

2. (colloquial) A leading light, or exemplar of a particular practice or movement.Examples: "Unlike the latter, however, Shifu's seriousness allowed no compromise; his criticism of Zhang ji even brought him into conflict with Wu Zhihui, one of the doyens of anarchism in China."; "2008 July 3, Amanda Schaffer, “The Sex Difference Evangelists”, part 3: “Mars, Venus, Babies, and Hormones”, in Slate, In an interview, even Simon Baron-Cohen, another doyen of sex-difference claims, offered up some caution."; "For these doyens of the field, the Burmese conceptual landscape was a sophisticated and complex array of beliefs, exhibiting the ability of communities to adapt, appropriate, and reshape external influences throughout history."colloquial