Word.ws English Dictionary

munk

munk is the alternative form of monk.

Meaning of monk

Noun

monk (plural monks)

  1. A male member of a monastic order who has devoted his life for religious service.
    • This is believed to be the completeſt liſt of this voluminous, proſaick, and driveling monk, that can be formed, without acceſs, at leaſt, to every manuſcript library in the kingdom, which would be very difficult, if not imposſible, to obtain.1802, Joseph Ritson, “Poets of the Fifteenth Century”, in Bibliographia Poetica
  2. In earlier usage, an eremite or hermit devoted to solitude, as opposed to a cenobite, who lived communally.
    • Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one, while in the case of monk and crusader there must have been a sustaining purpose, and possibly a great abnegation, a leaving of lands and...1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC
  3. (slang) Someone who leads an isolated life; a loner, a hermit.
  4. (slang) An unmarried man who does not have sexual relationships.
  5. (slang) A judge.
  6. (archaic) An inkblot.

See all 17 meanings of monk

Proper noun capitalized: Munk

Munk (plural Munks)

  1. A surname.

Forms of munk

Noun
pluralmunks
Proper noun
pluralMunks

Origin of munk

* As a German (Münk), Scandinavian/North Germanic (mainly Danish), and Dutch surname, all from the noun Mönch (“monk”). Compare Munck. * Also as a German surname, short form of the medieval name Dominicus. See Dominick. * Also as a German surname, from the place Münk in Mayen-Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate. The placename is attested as early as 1583 (Middle High German Monnike) and itself could be related to the word for monk. * As an English surname, variant of Monk. * As a Jewish surname, from M(o)unka, the Czech pet form of Solomon.

Words formed from munk

Questions about munk

What does munk mean?
Munk means a surname.
What is munk the alternative form of?
Munk is the alternative form of monk.
What part of speech is munk?
Munk is a proper noun.

Words near munk in the dictionary

  1. Munji
  2. munjistin
  3. munjistine
  4. munjon
  5. munjons
  6. munk
  7. Munkar
  8. Munkflohögen
  9. munkoyo
  10. Munkres assignment algorithm
  11. Munks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: munk (page history and authors); Munk (page history and authors); monk (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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Cite this entry: “munk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/munk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.