coenobite

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a monk or other member of a religious community who lives under a common rule, as distinct from a solitary hermit

   Each coenobite ate, prayed, and worked according to the monastery's shared rule.

From Late Latin coenobita and Greek koinobion, 'communal life' or 'monastery,' combining koinos, 'common,' with bios, 'life.' The spelling cenobite is also common. The word contrasts communal monastic life with the solitary life of a hermit or anchorite.

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