Cloister

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈklɔɪstə/

Definitions

  1. A covered walkway with open arches on one side, typically surrounding a courtyard in a monastery or cathedral | to shut away from the world in or as if in such a place
  2. A roofed passageway with pillared openings enclosing a courtyard, commonly found in convents and monasteries, or to seclude oneself from society
  3. A covered arcade with columns bordering an open court in religious buildings, or to isolate and withdraw from the outside world

Etymology: A cloister is fundamentally an enclosed space, and that enclosure is built into the word's etymology. The English noun "cloister" entered the language in the 12th century, borrowed from Old French "cloistre", which in turn came from Latin "claustrum". The Latin word meant literally "a closed place" or "an enclosure", derived from the past participle "clausus" of the verb "claudere", meaning "to close" or "to shut". This Latin root runs deep through the Indo-European language family and is ancestral to English words like "clause", "close", and "exclude" — all carrying that sense of closure or boundary. In medieval Latin, "claustrum" took on a specialized religious meaning, referring to the enclosed courtyard of a monastery or convent, typically a square surrounded by covered walkways or galleries. This architectural sense became the primary meaning when the word passed into Old French and thence into English during the Norman period. A cloister was not merely any enclosed space but specifically the heart of monastic life — a place of contemplation, work, and community, cut off from the secular world outside. The covered galleries themselves, with their repetitive arches and columns, embodied the idea of enclosure and separation that the word's Latin root expressed. The verb "to cloister" developed naturally from this noun in English, attested from around the 14th century. It means to shut away or confine, particularly in a religious context, or more broadly to seclude someone from ordinary society. A person could be "cloistered" — withdrawn from the world, living in seclusion. This verbal use preserves the original Latin sense of closure and confinement while applying it metaphorically to human experience. The verb reinforces the notion that a cloister is not simply a physical structure but a state of separation and protection from external forces.

Synonyms: convent, monastery, abbey, hermitage, cell