hermit

Syllables: her·mitUK/ˈhɜːmɪt//ˈhɝmɪt/

hermit noun: a religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite.

Noun

hermit (plural hermits)

A religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite.

Synonyms:

anchorite, eremite
A recluse; someone who lives alone and shuns human companionship.
- Solitary the thrush, / The hermit withdrawn to himself, avoiding the settlements, / Sings by himself a song.1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When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
- Millie told him he sounded like some batty hermit who lived in a cave.2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 184
Synonyms:

aloner, anchoret, anchorite, eremite, Miller of Dee, monk, recluse, shut-in, solitary, sullen
A spiced cookie made with molasses, raisins, and nuts.
A hermit crab.
- Because hermits are decapods and do not live within their own shells, they are not considered to be true crabs.2016, Vicki Judah, Kathy Nuttall, Exotic Animal Care and Management, page 279
Any in the subfamily Phaethornithinae of hummingbirds.

hermit meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

hermit in Urdu

بن باسی, گوشہ نشین, جوگی, راہب, تارک الدنیا, زاہد

hermit in Telugu

a hermit, recluse, ascetic: మౌని mauni
a hermit or religious beggar: బైరాగి bairāgi

More languagesFewer languages

hermit in Malayalam: സന്ന്യാസി, തപസ്വി, മുനി
hermit in Kannada: ಸಂನ್ಯಾಸಿ, ವಿರಕ್ತ, ಯತಿ, ಏಕಾಂತ ವಾಸಿ
hermit in Arabic: رَاهِب rāhib
hermit in Indonesian: resi
hermit in Persian: راهب, گوشهگیر guše-gir
hermit in Thai: นักบวช nák-bùuat
hermit in Vietnamese: nhà ẩn dật, ẩn sĩ

Examples of hermit in a sentence

Despite its name, the hermit crab is not a true crab!
The pine barrens are a site lonely enough to suit any hermit.
The old hermit, up in the mountains, took a vow of silence.

All 19 example sentences with hermit

Synonyms of hermit

All synonyms of hermit

Forms of hermit

plural	hermits
alternative form (obsolete)	eremite
alternative form (obsolete)	heremit
alternative form (obsolete)	heremite

Plural of hermit: hermits

Origin of hermit

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.

Words formed from hermit

Phrases with hermit

Words that rhyme with hermit

Questions about hermit

What does hermit mean?: Hermit means a religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite.
What is hermit in Tamil?: Hermit in Tamil is ஒதுங்கி உறைபவர், துறவி. See Hermit meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is hermit?: Hermit is a noun.
How do you pronounce hermit?: Hermit is pronounced /ˈhɝmɪt/ (US).
What is the plural of hermit?: The plural of hermit is hermits.

Words near hermit in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: hermit (page history and authors); hermit (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hermit (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Hermit (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); బైరాగి (Telugu) (page history and authors); hermit (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hermit (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-hermit.ogg.

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