tonsure

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tonsure,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French tonsure and directly borrowed from Latin tōnsūra (“a shearing, clipping”),^{[2][4][5][6][7]} also found as tonsure in Anglo-Norman from 1309.^[8] The Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes it from the Medieval Latin use of the noun,^[9] and Collins from Latin.^[10] The Latin noun is formed from tōnsus, the past participle of tondeō (“to shear, clip”), and -ūra.^[11][9][12] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *tend-, an enlargement of the root *tem- (“to cut”),^[13][12] the same root as tome,^[14][12] with Ancient Greek τένδω (téndō, “to gnaw”) as a close cognate.^[12][4] The English verb comes from the noun,^[4] or, in the OED's view, may instead be from Middle French tonsurer or Medieval Latin tōnsūrō.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The shaving of the head as a religious rite: before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[7][4] where someone "took tonsure and habit".^[2] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the noun meant any shearing or clipping, and Old French also used it of sheep-shearing,^[13][12] while Anglo-Norman used it for shearing the nap of cloth and for clipping coins.^[8] The English word came in with the ecclesiastical sense, but Gower used it in 1390 for clipping the hair in general,^[7] and Middle English had it for haircuts and beard-trimming too.^[13][2] The shaved patch itself is recorded from 1430–40, in Lydgate,^[7][4] and earlier in Anglo-French, in 1351, probably from Medieval Latin.^[4] Clipped coins, shrubs and hedges were a rare use, ending in the 17th century.^[7][6] Johnson (1755) defined the word generally, as the act of clipping the hair or the state of being shorn, with a quotation from Addison on the vestals.^[15] Tonsured is attested from 1706;^[13][9] from 1876 the verb could mean figuratively to make someone bald.^[7] In Somerset, in farming writers of 1793–1813, the tonsure was the hay crop.^[16] The Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records a bald spot resembling a tonsure.^[9]

Timeline

• before 1387 – the shaving of the head as a religious rite.^[7][4]
• 1390 – the clipping of hair in general.^[7]
• 1430–40 – the shaved part of a priest's or monk's head.^[7][4]
• 1621 – the clipping of coins, shrubs or hedges (obsolete by 1691).^[7]
• 1706 – verb, to shave the head, implied in tonsured.^[13][9] The OED and Barnhart first have the verb in 1793.^[7][4]
• 1876 – verb, figuratively, to make bald.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The shaving of all or part of the head, especially as a rite of admission to the clergy or a monastic order.^[10][9][7]
2. The patch of a priest's or monk's head left bare by such shaving.^[10][9][7]
3. The clipping or shaving of hair; the state of being shorn.^[9][7][15]
4. A bald spot resembling such a patch.^[9]
5. (obsolete, 1621–91) The clipping of coins, or of shrubs or hedges.^[7][6]

Verb

1. To shave the head of someone; to confer the tonsure on: The abbot tonsured two novices.^[10][9][7]

Word family

• untonsured
• tonsured

Related words

• tome
• tonsorial
• temple

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)