Sherpa maybe more exposed protecting European (6)
I believe the answer is:
bearer
'sherpa' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'more exposed protecting european' is the wordplay.
'more exposed' becomes 'barer' (I've seen this in another clue).
'protecting' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are held or protected).
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'barer' going around 'e' is 'BEARER'.
'maybe' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bearer that I've seen before include "Messenger - coffin-carrier" , "One who carries, maybe a coffin" , "Person carrying" , "One who puts up with" , "He carries something, stretcher or news" .)