monastic

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English monastik,^[2] borrowed from Late Latin monasticus (“relating to a monk or a monastery”),^[3][4][5] partly also through Middle French monastique.^[4][6][2] The Latin adjective is recorded from the 5th century, and in British sources from the 8th, when it was also used as a noun for a monk.^[3] It is from Ancient Greek μοναστικός (monastikós, “solitary; relating to a monk”), a Byzantine Greek word of the 4th century,^[3][6][4] from μονάζω (monázō, “to live alone”),^[3][7][8] from μόνος (mónos, “alone, single”).^[4][1] Dictionary.com explains the t of the Greek word as an analogy with derivatives of agent nouns, as in athlete and athletic.^[9] The OED compares French monastique, recorded from the late 14th century, and Italian monastico, from 1342.^[3] A slightly earlier English form was monastical, recorded from 1402,^[4][3] from monasticalis.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to a religious hermit, one who lives alone: about 1449, in Reginald Pecock's Repressor, which explains monastik gouernauncis as rules "bi whiche oon man gouerneth him silf aloon".^[2][3] This sense, true to the Greek idea of living alone, was rare and is obsolete.^[3][10]

Semantic evolution

Although the Greek source meant "solitary", English soon applied the word to monks, nuns and friars living together in a community under religious vows and a fixed rule, a sense recorded from 1563 in Winȝet's Certain Tractates.^[3] The hermit sense lingered in occasional use until 1723.^[3] From before 1631, in Donne, the adjective also described anything that resembles monks or their life: austere, silent or secluded.^[3][11] The noun, a member of a monastic order, followed in 1632, in Lithgow's travels,^[3][4] and monasticism, the monastic way of life, in 1795.^[4] Technical uses came late: a style of bookbinding in thick bevelled boards with dark tooling (1880) and a glaze with a dull finish (1909).^[3]

Timeline

• 1402 – monastical, the earlier form of the adjective.^[4]
• c. 1449 – relating to a religious hermit (obsolete by 1723).^[3][2]
• 1563 – relating to monks, nuns or friars living under religious vows, or to a monastery.^[3]
• before 1631 – resembling monks or their life; austere, secluded.^[3]
• 1632 – noun, a member of a monastic order; a monk.^[3][4]
• 1795 – monasticism, the monastic system or life.^[4]
• 1880 – in bookbinding, a style of binding in bevelled boards.^[3]
• 1909 – in ceramics, a glaze with a dull finish.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to monasteries or to monks, nuns and others living in a religious community under vows: monastic libraries.^[11][12][3]
2. Like the life of monks; austere, quiet or secluded: He lived a monastic existence in a cabin on the moor.^[11][12][3]
3. In bookbinding, describing a binding in thick bevelled boards with dark tooling and no gold.^[3]
4. (obsolete, c. 1449–1723) Relating to a religious hermit; anchoritic.^[3][2][10]

Noun

1. A member of a monastic order; a monk.^[12][11][3]

Word family

• monastically
• monasticism
• nonmonastic

Related words

• monastery
• monk
• monastical

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster