Abbot vs. Friar — What's the Difference?

Abbot (from the Aramaic Abba meaning "father") is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery.

A friar is a brother and a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the older monastic orders' allegiance to a single monastery formalized by their vow of stability. The most significant orders of friars are the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians and Carmelites.

The superior of a monastery.

A member of a usually mendicant Roman Catholic order.

Used as a title for such a person.

A member of a mendicant Christian order such as the Augustinians, Carmelites (white friars), Franciscans (grey friars) or the Dominicans (black friars).

The superior or head of an abbey or monastery.

A white or pale patch on a printed page caused by poor inking.

The pastor or administrator of an order, including minor and major orders starting with the minor order of porter.

An American fish, the silverside.

A layman who received the abbey's revenues, after the closing of the monasteries.

A brother or member of any religious order, but especially of one of the four mendicant orders, viz: (a) Minors, Gray Friars, or Franciscans. (b) Augustines. (c) Dominicans or Black Friars. (d) White Friars or Carmelites. See these names in the Vocabulary.

A brothel-owner's husband or lover.

A white or pale patch on a printed page.

A ponce; a man employed by a prostitute to find clients, and who may also act as a bodyguard or equivalent to a bouncer.

An American fish; the silversides.

The superior or head of an abbey.

A male member of a religious order that originally relied soley on alms

One of a class of bishops whose sees were formerly abbeys.

The superior of an abbey of monks