Members of religious communities, typically men who have taken vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and live in monasteries. They dedicate their lives to prayer, contemplation, and often scholarly or charitable work.
From Old English munuc, borrowed from Late Latin monachus, from Greek monakhos meaning 'solitary person,' from monos 'alone.' The term originally referred to hermits who lived in isolation before evolving to include those in communal religious settings.
Medieval monks were essentially the internet of their time - they preserved and copied manuscripts, maintained libraries, and created networks of knowledge across Europe. Many of our surviving ancient texts exist only because monks painstakingly hand-copied them in scriptoriums, often adding beautiful illuminated decorations.
Monastic traditions historically excluded women through institutional and theological frameworks, with 'monk' defaulting male while 'nun' remained semantically parallel but institutionally subordinate.
Specify 'monks and nuns' when referencing mixed communities, or use 'monastic practitioners' for gender-neutral context.
["monastic practitioners","religious monastics","contemplatives"]
Female monastics maintained intellectual traditions, spiritual leadership, and scriptural scholarship often unacknowledged in secular histories of monasticism.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.