Word.ws English Dictionary

capuchin

/ˈkæp.ə.t͡ʃɪn/

capuchin noun: a monk in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin; (generally) a Franciscan.

capuchin: A white faced monkey sitting on a tree branch
Photo by Jan Dommerholt on Unsplash

Noun (1)

capuchin (plural capuchins)

  1. A monk in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin; (generally) a Franciscan.
    • “That is something,” said the capuchin, “but not the most essential. Are you certain that he is a Christian?”1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 50
  2. A garment consisting of a cloak and hood, made in imitation of the dress of Capuchin monks.
    • Of Ermine is his doublet — / His Capuchin gay —a. 1886, Emily Dickinson, The Guest is gold and crimson
  3. A capuchin monkey.
  4. A hooded pigeon.

Noun (2) capitalized: Capuchin

Capuchin (plural Capuchins)

  1. A member of an order of Roman Catholic friars.

Forms of capuchin

pluralcapuchins
pluralCapuchins

Origin of capuchin

First use appears c. 1589, from French capuchin, from earlier capucin, from Italian cappuccino, ultimately from Late Latin cappa (“cape, hood”).

Borrowed from Middle French capuchin (“Capuchin friar”), from Italian cappuccino (“Capuchin friar”), from cappuccio (“hood, cowl”). Doublet of cappuccino.

Words formed from capuchin

Phrases with capuchin

Questions about capuchin

What does capuchin mean?
Capuchin means a monk in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin; (generally) a Franciscan.
What part of speech is capuchin?
Capuchin is a noun.
How do you pronounce capuchin?
Capuchin is pronounced /ˈkæp.ə.t͡ʃɪn/.
What is the plural of capuchin?
The plural of capuchin is capuchins.

Words near capuchin in the dictionary

  1. capuccio
  2. capuccios
  3. capuche
  4. capuched
  5. capuches
  6. capuchin
  7. capuchin monkey
  8. capuchin monkeys
  9. capuchinbird
  10. capuchinbirds
  11. Capuchiness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: capuchin (page history and authors); Capuchin (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-capuchin.wav.

Cite this entry: “capuchin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/capuchin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.