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bonze

American  
[bonz] / bɒnz /

noun

  1. a Buddhist monk, especially of Japan or China.


bonze British  
/ bɒnz /

noun

  1. a Chinese or Japanese Buddhist priest or monk

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of bonze

1580–90; < Middle French < Portuguese bonzo or New Latin bonzius < Japanese bonsō, bonzō ordinary priest ( bon- ordinary + sō priest < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese f án-sēng ); or < dialectal Japanese bonzu for bōzu priest


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.

See Examples For:

“Hopefully it’s soon,” Elway said Friday night at a ceremony dedicating a bonze likeness of Bowlen outside Sports Authority Field.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 2, 2015

When the Tokyo School of Fine Arts opened in 1887,its American co-founder, the "Boston bonze" Ernest Fenollosa, insisted that it teach only traditional Japanese techniques.

From Time Magazine Archive

Black-haired Thai maidens pray that the enemy will be defeated, and this week the chief bonze assured them that the enemy would be.

From Time Magazine Archive

A Laotian bonze is likely to remind questioners that for a priest to talk politics violates one of the 227 Theravadan rules of conduct.

From Time Magazine Archive

He’s painted himself in the style of a bonze, looking a little bit Japanese.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

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