From Middle English hermite, heremite, eremite, from Old French eremite, from el. -, Late Latin eremita, from Ancient Greek ἐρημίτης from ἐρημία ("desert, solitude"), from ἔρημος or ἐρῆμος ("uninhabited") plus -ίτης ("one connected to, a member of").

• (America) IPA: /ˈhɝmɪt/
• (RP) IPA: /ˈhɜːmɪt/

hermit (plural hermits)

1. A religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite.

   Synonyms: anchorite, eremite

2. A recluse; someone who lives alone and shuns human companionship.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:recluse

   • 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:

     Solitary the thrush, / The hermit withdrawn to himself, avoiding the settlements, / Sings by himself a song.

3. A spiced cookie made with molasses, raisins, and nuts.
4. A hermit crab.
   • 2016, Vicki Judah, Kathy Nuttall, Exotic Animal Care and Management, page 279:

     Because hermits are decapods and do not live within their own shells, they are not considered to be true crabs.

5. Any in the subfamily Phaethornithinae of hummingbirds.

• French: ermite, ermitane
• German: Einsiedler, Eremit, Klausner
• Italian: eremita, anacoreta
• Portuguese: eremita, ermitão
• Russian: отше́льник
• Spanish: ermitaño

• French: ermite
• German: Einsiedler
• Italian: eremita
• Portuguese: eremita, ermitão
• Russian: отше́льник
• Spanish: ermitaño

• Spanish: ermitaño