nunnery

See also: Nunnery

English

Etymology

From Middle English nonnery, nonnerie, equivalent to nun +‎ -ery.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnʌn(ə)ɹi/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

nunnery (plural nunneries)

1. a convent.
2. (chiefly Christianity) The residence of a female religious community, a monastery for nuns.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     Get thee to a nunnery, why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?

3. (humorous, slang, obsolete) Synonym of brothel.
   • 1593, Thomas Nashe, Christs Teares ouer Ierusalem, page 79:

     [To] some one Gentleman generally acquainted, they giue... free priuiledge thenceforward in theyr Nunnery, to procure them frequentance...

   • 1977, J.T. Shipley, In Praise of England, page 194:

     To the antipapist Tudors nunnery was a slang term for a brothel.

Synonyms

• (residence of nuns): convent, ribat (Islamic)

Hypernyms

• monastery

Translations

residence for nuns

• Arabic: دَيْر (لِلرَّاهِبَات) m (dayr (li-r-rāhibāt)), رَهْبَنَة نِسْوِيّ f (rahbana niswiyy)
• Bulgarian: мето́х (bg) m (metóh)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 女修道院 (zh) (nǔ xiūdàoyuàn), 庵堂 (zh) (āntáng) (generally Buddhist), 尼姑庵 (zh) (nígū'ān) (generally Buddhist)

• Dutch: nonnenklooster (nl) n
• Esperanto: monaĥinejo
• Finnish: nunnaluostari (fi)
• French: couvent (fr) m
• Georgian: მონასტერი (monasṭeri)
• German: Nonnenkloster (de) n
• Greek: μονή (el) (moní)
• Hungarian: apácakolostor (hu), zárda (hu)
• Irish: clochar m
• Italian: convento (it) m
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: coenobium n, monastērium n, conventus (la) m (4th declension)
• Macedonian: же́нски ма́настир m (žénski mánastir)
• Maori: whare none
• Middle English: nonnerie
• Old English: nunnhīrēd m, nunnmynster n, wīfhīrēd m
• Polish: klasztor (pl) (żeński)
• Portuguese: convento (pt) m
• Romanian: mănăstire (de maici) f
• Russian: же́нский монасты́рь m (žénskij monastýrʹ)
• Spanish: convento (es) m
• Swedish: nunnekloster (sv) n

See also

• abbess, cloister, convent, nun