abbess.
A female superior or governess of a nunnery, or convent of nuns, having the same authority over the nuns which the abbots have over the monks.
Meaning & usage
A female superior or governess of a nunnery, or convent of nuns, having the same authority over the nuns which the abbots have over the monks.
The abbess was always after the nuns to keep the convent immaculately clean.
A woman who runs a brothel; a woman employed by a prostitute to find clients.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Afroasiatic *ʔab- Proto-Semitic *ʔabw- Aramaic אַבָּא (ʾabbā)bor. Ancient Greek ἀββα (abba) Ancient Greek ἀββᾶς (abbâs)bor. Latin abbās Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der. Ancient Greek -ῐᾰ (-ĭă) Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa)bor. Latin -issa Latin abbātissa Old French abeessebor. Middle English abbesse English abbess From Middle English abbesse, from Old French abeesse (French abbesse), from Late Latin or Ecclesiastical Latin abbatissa, feminine of Latin abbas, abbatis (“abbot”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.