friar

/ˈfraɪə(r)/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈfraɪər/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈfrī(-ə)r/ (ame, mw)

friar — noun

  • friarsingular
  • friarsplural

1. a man who has taken religious vows to live with very few possessions as part of

1.名詞C1
釋義

a man who has taken religious vows to live with very few possessions as part of a Roman Catholic mendicant order; in earlier centuries friars walked from town to town teaching about the faith and accepting food or money from ordinary people.

例句

A friar in a brown robe greeted visitors at the church door after morning mass.

typical clothing detail: 'in a brown robe'

The medieval friars walked from village to village, teaching peasants the stories of the Bible.

historical pattern: friars + travelled + teaching

同義詞
  • monk

    broader term for a male religious; monks usually stay in a monastery, while friars move among ordinary people

  • brother

    informal title for a male member of a religious order, including friars

  • mendicant

    formal term emphasising the vow of poverty and dependence on donations

反義詞
  • nun

    female counterpart in religious life

  • layperson

    any ordinary member of a church who has not taken religious vows

文法句型

a friar of [order]

Friar [Name]

用法筆記

Frequently appears as a title before a name (Friar Tuck, Friar Lorenzo). Distinguish from 'monk': friars belong to mendicant orders that historically lived among ordinary people and worked in towns, while monks live enclosed in monasteries.

常見錯誤

❌She is studying to be a friar.
✅She is studying to be a nun.
💡'friar' refers only to male members; the female equivalent is 'nun' or 'sister'.
❌The friars live alone in their monastery and never leave.
✅The monks live alone in their monastery and never leave.
💡friars work among the public; enclosed religious men are monks.