monk
/mʌŋk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.93 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A male member of a monastic order who has devoted his life for religious service.
noun
In earlier usage, an eremite or hermit devoted to solitude, as opposed to a cenobite, who lived communally.
noun
A South American monkey (Pithecia monachus); also applied to other species, as Cebus xanthosternos.
noun
The bullfinch, common bullfinch, European bullfinch, or Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula).
Example Sentences
- "This is believed to be the completeſt liſt of this voluminous, proſaick, and driveling monk, that can be formed, without acceſs, at leaſt, to every manuſcript library in the kingdom, which would be very difficult, if not imposſible, to obtain."
- "In clusters on the plain, like cowlless monks at matins, sat the vultures that had settled on the corpse of the hyena impaled by the female rhino […]"
- "Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one, while in the case of monk and crusader there must have been a sustaining purpose, and possibly a great abnegation, a leaving of lands and possessions.”"
- ""Ah!" she cried, "thou art the prettiest little monk that ever monked it in this blessed, amorous town of Constance!""
- "Good people, if you're ever short of a job, don't take up monking for a living."
- "Many a scholar, making wings of candlewicks to flap away old darkness, monked his life to fasting long while feasting upon new light."
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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Religion.