Convent
nounA community of nuns, or the building in which they live.
How to spell convent
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce convent
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does convent mean?
- nounA community of nuns, or the building in which they live.
Convent in a sentence
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The old convent on the hill now houses a small museum.
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She entered the convent at the age of nineteen and took her vows.
Where does convent come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word goes back to the Latin conventus, meaning 'an assembly' or 'a gathering of people', which was itself formed from the verb convenire, 'to come together', built from com- 'together' and venire 'to come'. In medieval Latin the sense narrowed from any gathering to a religious community living under shared rule, and it then passed into English through Old French, where it appeared as covent or convent during the 1200s. The older Anglo-French spelling 'covent', without the n, survives in the London place name Covent Garden, which once belonged to a monastery garden. Over time the word came to refer chiefly to a community of nuns and the building they live in. Its close relatives 'convene', 'convention', and 'convenient' all share that same venire root of coming together, which is a useful reminder that the middle of the word is spelled v-e-n-t.
How the word is built
- con- (together)
- vent (from Latin venire: to come), literally 'a coming together, an assembly'
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