tonsure

See also: tonsuré

English

Medieval Roman Catholic monk with tonsure.

Etymology

From Middle English tonsure, from Anglo-Norman and Old French tonsure, from Latin tonsūra (“a clipping, trimming”), from tondeō (“shear, clip, trim”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɒn.ʃə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑn.ʃɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɒnʃə(ɹ)

Verb

tonsure (third-person singular simple present tonsures, present participle tonsuring, simple past and past participle tonsured)

1. (transitive, Buddhism, Christianity) To shave the crown of the head of (a person) as a sign of humility and religious vocation.

Derived terms

• untonsured

Translations

shave the crown of the head

• Assamese: চুড়াকৰণ (surakoron)
• Catalan: tonsurar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 削髮 / 削发 (zh) (xuēfà), 剃度 (zh) (tìdù)

• Finnish: tehdä tonsuuri
• French: tonsurer (fr)
• Icelandic: krúnuraka
• Macedonian: по́стриже (póstriže)
• Spanish: tonsurar (es)
• Ukrainian: постригти (postryhty) (в ченці)

Noun

tonsure (plural tonsures)

1. The hairstyle and characteristic bald patch resulting from being tonsured.
2. A ritual shaving of this kind.

Translations

ritual shaving of this kind

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 削髮 / 削发 (zh) (xuēfà), 剃度 (zh) (tìdù)

• Finnish: tonsuuri (fi)
• Hindi: मुंडन (hi) m (muṇḍan)
• Icelandic: krúnurakstur m
• Japanese: 剃度 (ja) (ていど, teido)
• Macedonian: по́стриг m (póstrig), по́тстриг m (pótstrig)
• Spanish: tonsura (es) f
• Ukrainian: постриг m (postryh), постриження f (postryžennja)

bald patch resulting from being tonsured

• Bulgarian: тонзура f (tonzura)
• Catalan: tonsura (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 削髮 / 削发 (zh) (xuēfà), 剃度 (zh) (tìdù)

• Esperanto: tonsuro
• Finnish: tonsuuri (fi)
• French: tonsure (fr) f
• German: Tonsur (de) f
• Hungarian: tonzúra (hu)
• Icelandic: krúna f
• Macedonian: постриг m (postrig)
• Middle English: coroune
• Polish: tonsura (pl) f
• Russian: тонзу́ра (ru) f (tonzúra)
• Spanish: tonsura (es) f
• Swedish: tonsur (sv) c
• Tagalog: panot (tl)
• Ukrainian: тонзура f (tonzura)

Anagrams

• nutrose, snouter, tenours

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French tonsure, borrowed from Latin tōnsūra (“a clipping, trimming”), from tondeō (“shear, clip, trim”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔ̃.syʁ/

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

Noun

tonsure f (plural tonsures)

1. tonsure

Related terms

• tondre

Verb

tonsure

1. inflection of tonsurer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “tonsure”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tonˈsu.re/
• Rhymes: -ure
• Hyphenation: ton‧sù‧re

Noun

tonsure f

1. plural of tonsura

Anagrams

• resunto, strenuo

Latin

Participle

tōnsūre

1. vocative masculine singular of tōnsūrus

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tonsūra.

Noun

tonsure oblique singular, f (oblique plural tonsures, nominative singular tonsure, nominative plural tonsures)

1. tonsure (hair)

Descendants

• French: tonsure
• → Middle English: tonsure
  • English: tonsure

References

• Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “tonsure”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC.
• “tonsure”, in Anglo-Norman Dictionary, 2nd edition, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: Aberystwyth University, 2001–2026.

Spanish

Verb

tonsure

1. inflection of tonsurar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative