monk

B1 Topic:People & Society

US /mʌŋk/ See IPA manual

Freq #3372

Meanings

1

noun
A man who lives apart from the world in a religious community and has taken religious vows.

The monks spend their mornings in prayer and silence.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms monks

Derived forms monkdommonkerymonkessmonkettemonkfruitmonkishmonkismmonklessmonkletmonklikemonklymonkscloth

Related forms abbey abbot brother cloister convent hermit monastery monastic monasticism nun sister

Etymology

From Middle English monk, from Old English munuc, from Proto-West Germanic *munik, from Late Latin monicus, variant of monachus, from Ancient Greek μοναχός (monakhós, “single, solitary”), from μόνος (mónos, “alone”).

*men- (small) Proto-Indo-European monk Middle English munuc Old English *munik Proto-West Germanic monicus la-lat μοναχός Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

External links

# monk

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /mʌŋk/
**Frequency rank:** 3372

## Meanings
1. A man who lives apart from the world in a religious community and has taken religious vows.

## Examples
- The monks spend their mornings in prayer and silence.

## Derived Forms
- monkdom
- monkery
- monkess
- monkette
- monkfruit
- monkish
- monkism
- monkless
- monklet
- monklike
- monkly
- monkscloth

## Related Forms
- abbey
- abbot
- brother
- cloister
- convent
- hermit
- monastery
- monastic
- monasticism
- nun
- sister

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *men- (small)
- Root: monk
- Root: munuc
- Root: *munik
- Root: monicus
- Root: μοναχός

## Etymology
From Middle English monk, from Old English munuc, from Proto-West Germanic *munik, from Late Latin monicus, variant of monachus, from Ancient Greek μοναχός (monakhós, “single, solitary”), from μόνος (mónos, “alone”).

## AI Etymology
Monk comes from Middle English monk, from Old English munuc, from Proto-West Germanic *munik, from Late Latin monicus, variant of monachus, from Ancient Greek μοναχός (monakhós, “single, solitary”), from μόνος (mónos, “alone”). In present-day English it covers a man who lives apart from the world in a religious community and has taken religious vows. The historical chain runs through *men- (small) (Proto-Indo-European), monk (Middle English), munuc (Old English), *munik (Proto-West Germanic), and monicus (Late Latin). Related and derived forms include abbey, abbot, brother, and monkdom.

## Topics
- People & Society

markdown

monk

Meanings

Thesaurus

Common collocations

Etymology

Topics

External links

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback