hermit

Etymology

From Middle English hermite, heremite, eremite, from Old French eremite, from Ecclesiastical Latin, Late Latin eremita, from Ancient Greek ἐρημίτης (erēmítēs, “person of the desert”) from ἐρημία (erēmía, “desert, solitude”), from ἔρημος (érēmos) or ἐρῆμος (erêmos, “uninhabited”) plus -ίτης (-ítēs, “one connected to, a member of”). Doublet of eremite. Displaced native Old English ānsetla.

noun

1. A religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite.
2. A recluse; someone who lives alone and shuns human companionship.
   Millie told him he sounded like some batty hermit who lived in a cave. 2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 184
3. A spiced cookie made with molasses, raisins, and nuts.
4. A hermit crab.
   Because hermits are decapods and do not live within their own shells, they are not considered to be true crabs. 2016, Vicki Judah, Kathy Nuttall, Exotic Animal Care and Management, page 279
5. Any in the subfamily Phaethornithinae of hummingbirds.