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tonsure

UK/ˈtɒn.ʃə(ɹ)/US/ˈtɑn.ʃɚ/
nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,898 of 15,258leans written

A tonsure is the shaven crown of a monk's head. Receive the tonsure, a monk's tonsure, the tonsure grew out.

Different traditions shaved different shapes, and the argument over which was correct was one of the disputes settled at the Synod of Whitby in 664 — a haircut carrying the weight of church politics. The Catholic Church abolished it in 1972. The Latin means a clipping.

Definitions of tonsure

  1. 1nountonsureThe shaven crown of a monk's head.C2

    “The young monk knelt as the abbot shaved his head into a tonsure.”

tonsure is a haircut.

Where it comes from

Latin tonsura means a clipping or shearing, from tondere, to shear. Tonsorial, of barbering, is the same root.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *temh₁-

  2. Latin

    tonsūra — a clipping, trimming

  3. Old French

    tonsure

  4. Middle English

    tonsure

  5. English, today

    tonsure

Built from

  • tondeō · Latin — shear, clip, trim

From Middle English tonsure, from Anglo-Norman - and Old French tonsure, from Latin tonsūra (“a clipping, trimming”), from tondeō (“shear, clip, trim”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

tonsure in the wild

  • A hieromonk can be either a monk who has been ordained to the priesthood or a priest who has received monastic tonsure.

    Hieromonk

  • Vertex baldness refers to a form of male pattern baldness in which the baldness is limited to the vertex, resembling a tonsure.

    Vertex (anatomy)

  • On 23 June 1316, she took tonsure as a Buddhist nun and was given the Dharma name Shin'nyo Gen.

    Saionji Shōshi

  • Because of this, Gille Chriosd wore the tonsure, which gave him the nickname Maolan or Gillemaol.

    McMillan (surname)

  • The name MacMillan thus literally means, "son of the tonsure".

    McMillan (surname)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.