monastery

English

Meteora Monastery in Greece

Alternative forms

• monasterie (obsolete)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒnəstɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑnəˌstɛɹi/, /ˈmɑnəstəɹi/

  • Audio (US):

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  • Audio (US):

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Noun

monastery (plural monasteries)

2. A residence for monks or others who have taken religious vows.
   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 460, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish):

     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.

Hyponyms

• ribat (Sufi)

Coordinate terms

• (female monastery): nunnery, convent, ribat (Islamic)

Derived terms

• double monastery
• dual monastery
• lamastery
• monastery cheese
• monasterylike
• scary devil monastery

Related terms

• monasterial
• monastic
• monasticism

Translations

building for monks

• Albanian: manastir (sq) m
• Arabic: دَيْر m (dayr)

  Egyptian Arabic: دير m (dēr)

  South Levantine Arabic: دير m (dēr)

• Aramaic: דירא f (dayrā, dayro)

  Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ f (dayrā, dayro)

• Armenian: վանք (hy) (vankʻ)
• Asturian: monasteriu m
• Azerbaijani: monastır
• Basque: monasterio (eu)
• Belarusian: манасты́р m (manastýr)
• Bengali: মঠ (bn) (moṭh), আশ্রম (bn) (asrom), মন্দির (bn) (mondir)
• Bulgarian: манасти́р (bg) m (manastír)
• Burmese: ဘုန်းကြီးကျောင်း (my) (bhun:kri:kyaung:)
• Catalan: monestir (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 修道院 (zh) (xiūdàoyuàn), 僧院 (zh) (sēngyuàn); 寺院 (zh) (sìyuàn), 寺 (zh) (sì), 庵 (zh) (ān) (Buddhist)

• Czech: klášter (cs) m, monastýr m
• Danish: kloster (da) n
• Dutch: klooster (nl) n
• Erzya: ськамонкудо (śkamonkudo)
• Esperanto: monaĥejo
• Estonian: klooster (et)
• Extremaduran: monastériu
• Faroese: kleystur n
• Finnish: luostari (fi)
• French: monastère (fr) m
• Friulian: munistîr m
• Galician: mosteiro (gl) m
• Georgian: მონასტერი (monasṭeri)
• German: Kloster (de) n

  Bavarian: Klosta

• Greek: μονή (el) f (moní), μοναστήρι (el) n (monastíri)

  Ancient Greek: μονή f (monḗ)

• Hebrew: מִנְזָר (he) m (minzár)
• Hindi: मठ (hi) m (maṭh), आश्रम (hi) m (āśram)
• Hungarian: kolostor (hu)
• Icelandic: klaustur (is) n
• Indonesian: biara (id), wihara (id) (Buddhism)
• Irish: mainistir (ga) f
• Italian: monastero (it) m, certosa (it) f
• Japanese: 修道院 (ja) (しゅうどういん, shūdōin), 僧院 (ja) (そういん, sōin)
• Kazakh: монастырь (monastırʹ), ғибадатхана (ğıybadatxana)
• Khmer: វត្ត (km) (vŏət)
• Korean: 수도원(修道院) (ko) (sudowon), 승원(僧院) (ko) (seung'won)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: xilwet (ku) f, peristgeh (ku) f, pîrozgeh (ku) f, dêr (ku)

• Kyrgyz: монастырь (monastır)
• Lao: ວັດ (lo) (wat)
• Latin: monastērium n (Medieval); monastēriolum (Medieval, small)
• Latvian: klosteris m
• Lithuanian: vienuolynas (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Klouschter n
• Macedonian: манастир (mk) m (manastir)
• Malay: biara
• Malayalam: ആശ്രമം (ml) (āśramaṁ), ദയറാ (ml) (dayaṟā) (Syriac Christianity)
• Māori: whare monaki
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хийд (mn) (xiid), хүрээ (mn) (xüree)

• Norman: monastéthe m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kloster (no) n

  Nynorsk: kloster n

• Occitan: monastièr (oc) m
• Old English: mynster
• Pashto: خانقا (ps) f (xānaqã)
• Persian:

  Middle Persian: mānestān

  Dari: خَانَقَاه (fa) (xānaqāh), خَانِقَاه (fa) (xāniqāh), دَیر (fa) (dayr)

  Iranian Persian: خانْقاه (fa) (xânġâh), خانِقاه (fa) (xâneġâh), دِیر (fa) (deyr)

• Polish: klasztor (pl) m, monaster (pl) m
• Portuguese: mosteiro (pt) m, monastério (pt) m
• Romanian: mânăstire (ro) f, mănăstire (ro) f
• Romansh: claustra f, clostra
• Russian: монасты́рь (ru) m (monastýrʹ)
• Sanskrit: मठ (sa) m (maṭha)
• Scottish Gaelic: manachainn f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ма̏настӣр m, са̏моста̄н m

  Latin: mȁnastīr (sh) m, sȁmostān (sh) m

• Slovak: kláštor (sk) m, monastier (sk) m
• Slovene: samostan (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kloštaŕ m

  Upper Sorbian: klóšter m

• Southern Altai: монастырь (monastïrʹ)
• Spanish: monasterio (es) m
• Swahili: monasteri (sw)
• Swedish: kloster (sv) n
• Tagalog: bahay-pari
• Tajik: дайр (dayr), хонақоҳ (tg) (xonaqoh)
• Tamil: மடம் (ta) (maṭam)
• Thai: วัด (th) (wát), อาราม (th) (aa-raam)
• Tibetan: དགོམ་པ (dgom pa)
• Tocharian B: tsāro, sānk
• Turkish: manastır (tr), keşişhane (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: مناستر (manastır), كشیشخانه (keşişhane)

• Turkmen: monastyr
• Ukrainian: монасти́р m (monastýr)
• Urdu: خانَقاہ f (xānaqāh), خانْقاہ f (xānqāh), مَٹھ m (maṭh), مَنْدِر m (mandir), تَکْیَہ m (takya), تَکِیَہ m (takiya)
• Uyghur: موناستىر (monastir), خانىقا (xaniqa)
• Uzbek: monastir (uz), xonaqoh (uz)
• Vietnamese: tu viện (vi) (修院), tự viện (vi) (寺院 (vi)), đan viện (Roman Catholicism)
• Welsh: mynachlog f

See also

• abbey
• cloister
• convent
• friary
• minster

Anagrams

• asteronym, myronates, nasometry, oysterman

Polish

Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.nasˈtɛ.rɘ/
• Rhymes: -ɛrɘ
• Syllabification: mo‧nas‧te‧ry

Noun

monastery m inan

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of monaster