hermit

English

Alternative forms

• eremite, heremit, heremite (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English hermite, heremite, eremite, from Old French eremite, from Ecclesiastical Latin, Late Latin eremita, from Ancient Greek ἐρημίτης (erēmítēs, “person of the desert”) from ἐρημία (erēmía, “desert, solitude”), from ἔρημος (érēmos) or ἐρῆμος (erêmos, “uninhabited”) plus -ίτης (-ítēs, “one connected to, a member of”). Doublet of eremite. Displaced native Old English ānsetla.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɝmɪt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɜːmɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)mɪt
• Hyphenation: her‧mit

Noun

hermit (plural hermits)

1. A religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite.

   Synonyms: anchorite, eremite

2. A recluse; someone who lives alone and shuns human companionship.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:recluse

   • 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:

     Solitary the thrush, / The hermit withdrawn to himself, avoiding the settlements, / Sings by himself a song.

   • 2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 184:

     Millie told him he sounded like some batty hermit who lived in a cave.

3. A spiced cookie made with molasses, raisins, and nuts.
4. A hermit crab.
   • 2016, Vicki Judah, Kathy Nuttall, Exotic Animal Care and Management, page 279:

     Because hermits are decapods and do not live within their own shells, they are not considered to be true crabs.

5. Any in the subfamily Phaethornithinae of hummingbirds.

Derived terms

• bald-headed hermit
• garden hermit
• hermie
• hermitage
• hermitary
• hermit-bird
• hermit crab
• hermit-crow
• hermitess
• hermithood
• hermitic
• hermitical
• hermitically
• hermitish
• hermitism
• hermitization
• hermitize
• hermit kingdom
• hermitlike
• hermitness
• hermitry
• hermitship
• hermit thrush
• hermitty
• hermitude
• hermit warbler
• house hermit
• ornamental hermit
• thinstripe hermit

Translations

religious recluse; eremite

Afrikaans: kluisenaar Arabic: رَاهِب m (rāhib) Armenian: անապատական (hy) (anapatakan), ճգնավոր (hy) (čgnavor) Belarusian: пустэ́льнік m (pustélʹnik), самотнік m (samótnik) Bulgarian: отшелник (bg) m (otšelnik) Catalan: ermità (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 隐士 (zh) (yǐnshì) Czech: poustevník (cs) m Dutch: kluizenaar (nl) m Esperanto: ermito Estonian: erak, üksiklane, eremiit Finnish: erakko (fi) French: ermite (fr) m or f, ermitane (fr) f Galician: eremita m or f, ermitán m, ermitá f, anacoreta m or f Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Einsiedler (de) m, Eremit (de) m, Klausner (de) m Greek: ερημίτης (el) m (erimítis) Ancient: ἐρημίτης m (erēmítēs) Hebrew: נזיר (he) m (nazir) Hungarian: remete (hu) Icelandic: einsetumaður m, einsetumunkur m Indonesian: resi (id) Irish: ancaire m Italian: eremita (it) m, anacoreta (it) m Japanese: 仙人 (ja) (sennin) Javanese: pandhita (jv) Khmer: ឥសិ (km) (ʼiseʼ), តាបស (km) (taabɑh) Latin: inclūsus m Macedonian: о́тшелник m (ótšelnik), пу́стиник m (pústinik) Maori: eremita Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: eremitt Old English: ānsetla m Persian: راهب (fa) Polish: anachoreta (pl) m, eremita (pl) m, pustelnik (pl) m, pustelnica (pl) f, pustelniczka (pl) f Portuguese: eremita (pt) m or f, ermitão (pt) m Russian: отше́льник (ru) m (otšélʹnik), затво́рник (ru) m (zatvórnik) Scottish Gaelic: aonaran m Sicilian: rimitu (scn) m Slovak: pustovník (sk) m, eremita m, anachorét m, anachoréta m Spanish: ermitaño (es) m Swedish: eremit (sv) c Thai: นักบวช (th) (nák-bùuat) Tibetan: please add this translation if you can Turkish: keşiş (tr) Ukrainian: пусте́льник (uk) m (pustélʹnyk) Vietnamese: nhà ẩn dật, ẩn sĩ (vi)

recluse; someone who lives alone

Afrikaans: kluisenaar Armenian: անապատական (hy) (anapatakan), ճգնավոր (hy) (čgnavor) Belarusian: адзіно́тнік m (adzinótnik), само́тнік m (samótnik), самотніца f (samótnica), адзінотніца f (adzinótnica) Bulgarian: отше́лник (bg) m (otšélnik) Catalan: eremita (ca) m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 隱士 / 隐士 (zh) (yǐnshì) Czech: poustevník (cs) m Dutch: kluizenaar (nl) m Esperanto: dezertulo Estonian: erak, üksiklane Finnish: erakko (fi) French: ermite (fr) m or f German: Einsiedler (de) m Greek: ερημίτης (el) m (erimítis) Ancient: ἐρημίτης m (erēmítēs), μονότροπος m (monótropos) Hungarian: remete (hu) Icelandic: einsetumaður m Ingrian: erikko Irish: ancaire m Italian: eremita (it) m Japanese: 仙人 (ja) (sennin), 隠者 (ja) (いんじゃ, inja) Khmer: វិវេកជន (vĭvékchôn) Korean: 은자 (eunja) Latin: inclūsus m Macedonian: отшелник m (otšelnik) Maori: moke, moke Old English: ānsetla m Persian: گوشه‌گیر (guše-gir) Polish: odludek (pl) m, pustelnik (pl) m, pustelnica (pl) f, pustelniczka (pl) f, samotnik (pl) m, samotnica f, samotniczka f Portuguese: eremita (pt) m or f, ermitão (pt) m Russian: отше́льник (ru) m (otšélʹnik), затво́рник (ru) m (zatvórnik) Scottish Gaelic: aonaran m Serbo-Croatian: pustinjak (sh) m Sicilian: rimitu (scn) m Slovak: pustovník (sk) m Spanish: ermitaño (es) m, botarga f (Spain) Swedish: enstöring (sv) Thai: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: самі́тник m (samítnyk), само́тник m (samótnyk) Vietnamese: nhà ẩn dật, ẩn sĩ (vi)

cookie

hermit crab — see hermit crab

bird

Catalan: colibrí ermità m Finnish: erakkokolibri (fi) Navajo: tsintah dahiitį́hii Spanish: ermitaño (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Italian: (please verify) eremita (it) m Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) pustinjak (sh) m, (please verify) otšelnik m

See also

• monachos
• monk

Anagrams

• mither