abbess
Americannoun
noun
Gender
What's the difference between abbess and abbot? See -ess.
Etymology
Origin of abbess
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English abbesse from Old French abbesse, abaesse from Late Latin abbātissa, feminine of abbās abbot; replacing Middle English abbatisse from Late Latin; in turn replacing Old English abadisse, abbodesse (compare Old High German abbatissa ) from unattested Late Latin ab(b)adissa for abbātissa
Explanation
An abbess is the head of a group of nuns. Typically, a woman has been a nun for many years before becoming an abbess. In the Catholic church, the male superior of monks is called an abbot. The female equivalent is an abbess, who's kind of the boss of the nuns at an abbey (which simply means "place where monks or nuns live"). We can trace this word all the way back to the Aramaic abba, an honorific title that means "the father" or "my father."
Vocabulary lists containing abbess
Medieval Europe - Introductory
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Medieval Europe - Middle School
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Medieval Europe - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Joe Abbess, 17, from Southampton, and 12-year-old Sunnah Khan, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, died after getting into trouble in the water off Bournemouth Beach in May 2023.
From BBC • Sep. 25, 2024
Ms Short said another friend later called Mrs Abbess to say "Joe was in the sea when the waves got crazy and that the alarm had been raised".
From BBC • Sep. 24, 2024
Joe Abbess, 17, from Southampton, and 12-year-old Sunnah Khan, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, both died after getting into trouble in the water in May 2023.
From BBC • Sep. 24, 2024
Sunnah Khan, 12, from High Wycombe, and Joe Abbess, 17, from Southampton, died in the sea near Bournemouth Pier on 31 May 2023.
From BBC • May 31, 2024
Bugga, Abbess of a Kentish house, exchanged books with him.
From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Power, Eileen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
