A monk

[muhngk] /mʌŋk/
noun
(james) arthur (“art”) born 1957, u.s. football player.
thelonious
[thuh-loh-nee-uh s] /θəˈloʊ ni əs/ (show ipa), (sphere) 1917–1982, u.s. jazz pianist and composer.
george, monck, george.
monk
/mʌŋk/
noun
a male member of a religious community bound by vows of poverty, chast-ty, and obedience related adjective monastic
(sometimes capital) a fancy pigeon having a bald pate and often large feathered feet
word origin
old english munuc, from late latin monachus, from late greek: solitary (man), from greek monos alone
monk
/mʌŋk/
noun
thelonious (sphere) (θəˈləʊnɪəs). 1920–82, us jazz pianist and composer
a variant spelling of (george) monck
monk
n.

old english munuc “monk” (used also of women), from proto-germanic -muniko- (cf. old frisian munek, middle dutch monic, old high german munih, ger. mönch), an early borrowing from vulgar latin -monicus (source of french moine, spanish monje, italian monaco), from late latin monachus “monk,” originally “religious hermit,” from ecclesiastical greek monakhos “monk,” noun use of a cl-ssical greek adjective meaning “solitary,” from monos “alone” (see mono-). for subst-tution of -o- for -u-, see come.

in england, before the reformation, the term was not applied to the members of the mendicant orders, who were always called friars. from the 16th c. to the 19th c., however, it was usual to speak of the friars as a cl-ss of monks. in recent times the distinction between the terms has been carefully observed by well-informed writers. in french and ger. the equivalent of monk is applied equally to ‘monks’ and ‘friars.’ [oed]

noun

a monkey (1843+)
a chinese or chinese-american: known to their occidental neighbors, the irish especially, as monks (1925+)

monk

man who separates himself from society and lives either alone (a hermit or anchorite) or in an organized community in order to devote himself full time to religious life. see monasticism.
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