Cloisty

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Secluded and withdrawn from ordinary society, in the manner of a monastic community living apart from the world
2. Shut away from outside life and contact, resembling the quiet, enclosed seclusion of a religious house
3. Sheltered, sequestered, and isolated from the bustle of the world, much as monks and nuns live within a cloister

Etymology: "Cloisty" is an English adjective formed from "cloister" plus the suffix "-y", meaning "resembling or characteristic of a cloister" or secluded like a monastic life. "Cloister" itself came into English in the late Old English period, borrowed from Old French "cloistre", which descends from Latin "claustrum", meaning an enclosed place or bolt, from "claudere", to shut or close. The "-y" suffix, from Old English "-ig", was used to form adjectives meaning "having the quality of" a noun, which is how "cloisty" was built on the older word. Its use is recorded from the 17th century, and it is a straightforward derivation rather than a word with a dramatic shift in meaning.