Dictionaries › English

abbot

Pronunciation: /ˈæbət/

The English word “abbot” has 5 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The superior or head of an abbey or monastery.
  2. The pastor or administrator of an order, including minor and major orders starting with the minor order of porter.
  3. A layman who received the abbey's revenues, after the closing of the monasteries.
  4. A brothel-owner's husband or lover.
  5. A ponce; a man employed by a prostitute to find clients, and who may also act as a bodyguard or equivalent to a bouncer.

Etymology

From Middle English abbot, abbod, abbed, from Old English abbat, abbad, abbod, from Latin abbās (“father”), from Ancient Greek ἀββᾶς (abbâs), from Aramaic אבא (’abbā, “father”). Doublet of abba, abbé, and bwana.

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “abbot” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.