hermit

• eremite, heremit, heremite (obsolete)

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.

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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

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     Solitary the thrush, / The hermit withdrawn to himself, avoiding the settlements, / Sings by himself a song.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

• mither