Meanings
plural monasteries · alternative obsolete monasterie
- A residence for monks or others who have taken religious vows.
The Church was in practice deprived of all public functions and prevented from teaching, publishing books and periodicals, and educating the clergy; monasteries and convents were for the most part dissolved.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 460
Origin
- Ancient Greekμοναστήριον“hermitage, monastery”
- Medieval Latinmonastērium“monastery”
- Old Frenchmonastere
- Middle Englishmonasterie
- Englishmonastery
From Middle English monasterie, from Old French monastere, from Medieval Latin monastērium (“monastery”), from Ancient Greek μοναστήριον (monastḗrion, “hermitage, monastery”), from μοναστήριος (monastḗrios, “alone, made alone”) + -ιον (-ion, “-ium”, suffix forming place names), from μονάζω (monázō, “to be alone”), from μόνος (mónos, “alone”) + -άζω (-ázō, verb-forming suffix). Doublet of minster.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek μονή
- μονή (monḗ)building for monks
Arabic دَيْر
- دَيْر (dayr)building for monks
Basque monasterio
- monasteriobuilding for monks
Bengali মঠ, আশ্রম
- মঠ (moṭh)building for monks
- আশ্রম (asrom)building for monks
- মন্দির (mondir)building for monks
Bulgarian манасти́р
- манасти́р (manastír)building for monks
Catalan monestir
- monestirbuilding for monks
Chinese Mandarin 修道院, 僧院
- 修道院 (xiūdàoyuàn)building for monks
- 僧院 (sēngyuàn)building for monks
- 寺院 (sìyuàn)building for monks
- 寺 (sì)building for monks
- 庵 (ān)building for monks
Czech klášter, monastýr
- klášterbuilding for monks
- monastýrbuilding for monks
Danish kloster
- klosterbuilding for monks
Dutch klooster
- kloosterbuilding for monks
Esperanto monaĥejo
- monaĥejobuilding for monks
Estonian klooster
- kloosterbuilding for monks
Finnish luostari
- luostaribuilding for monks
French monastère
- monastèrebuilding for monks
German Kloster
- Klosterbuilding for monks
Greek μονή, μοναστήρι
- μονή (moní)building for monks
- μοναστήρι (monastíri)building for monks
Hebrew מִנְזָר
- מִנְזָר (minzár)building for monks
Hindi मठ, आश्रम
- मठ (maṭh)building for monks
- आश्रम (āśram)building for monks
Hungarian kolostor
- kolostorbuilding for monks
Icelandic klaustur
- klausturbuilding for monks
Indonesian biara, wihara
- biarabuilding for monks
- wiharabuilding for monks
Irish mainistir
- mainistirbuilding for monks
Italian monastero, certosa
- monasterobuilding for monks
- certosabuilding for monks
Japanese 修道院, 僧院
- 修道院 (shūdōin)building for monks
- 僧院 (sōin)building for monks
Korean 수도원, 승원
- 수도원 (sudowon)building for monks
- 승원 (seung'won)building for monks
Latin monastērium, monastēriolum
- monastēriumbuilding for monks
- monastēriolumbuilding for monks
Latvian klosteris
- klosterisbuilding for monks
Lithuanian vienuolynas
- vienuolynasbuilding for monks
Malay biara
- biarabuilding for monks
Māori whare monaki
- whare monakibuilding for monks
Norwegian Bokmål kloster
- klosterbuilding for monks
Polish klasztor, monaster
- klasztorbuilding for monks
- monasterbuilding for monks
Portuguese mosteiro, monastério
- mosteirobuilding for monks
- monastériobuilding for monks
Romanian mânăstire, mănăstire
- mânăstirebuilding for monks
- mănăstirebuilding for monks
Russian монасты́рь
- монасты́рь (monastýrʹ)building for monks
Scottish Gaelic manachainn
- manachainnbuilding for monks
Slovak kláštor, monastier
- kláštorbuilding for monks
- monastierbuilding for monks
Spanish monasterio
- monasteriobuilding for monks
Swahili monasteri
- monasteribuilding for monks
Swedish kloster
- klosterbuilding for monks
Tagalog bahay-pari
- bahay-paribuilding for monks
Tamil மடம்
- மடம் (maṭam)building for monks
Thai วัด, อาราม
- วัด (wát)building for monks
- อาราม (aa-raam)building for monks
Turkish manastır, keşişhane
- manastırbuilding for monks
- keşişhanebuilding for monks
Ukrainian монасти́р
- монасти́р (monastýr)building for monks
Urdu خانَقاہ, خانْقاہ
- خانَقاہ (xānaqāh)building for monks
- خانْقاہ (xānqāh)building for monks
- مَٹھ (maṭh)building for monks
- مَنْدِر (mandir)building for monks
- تَکْیَہ (takya)building for monks
- تَکِیَہ (takiya)building for monks
Vietnamese tu viện, tự viện
- tu việnbuilding for monks
- tự việnbuilding for monks
- đan việnbuilding for monks
Welsh mynachlog
- mynachlogbuilding for monks
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
monastery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monastery
“monastery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monastery. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “monastery,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monastery.
Source: monastery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.