Brother vs. Monk — What's the Difference?

A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another. The female counterpart is a sister.

A monk (, from Greek: μοναχός, monachos, "single, solitary" via Latin monachus) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicate his life to serving all other living beings, or to be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live his or her life in prayer and contemplation.

A male having the same parents as another or one parent in common with another.

A man who is a member of a brotherhood living in a monastery and devoted to a discipline prescribed by his order

A kinsman.

A male member of a monastic order who has devoted his life for religious service.

A fellow man.

In earlier usage, an eremite or hermit devoted to solitude, as opposed to a cenobite, who lived communally.

A fellow member, as of a fraternity, trade union, or panel of judges on a court.

(slang) A male who leads an isolated life; a loner, a hermit.

A close male friend; a comrade.

(slang) An unmarried man who does not have sexual relationships.

A fellow African American man or boy.

(slang) A judge.

Pl. also brethren Something, such as a corporation or institution, that is regarded as a member of a class

(printing) A blotch or spot of ink on a printed page, caused by the ink not being properly distributed; distinguished from a friar, or white spot caused by a deficiency of ink.

Abbr. Br. or Bro. A lay member of a religious order of men.

A piece of tinder made of agaric, used in firing the powder hose or train of a mine.

Pl. also brethren A fellow member of the Christian church.

A South American monkey (Pithecia monachus); also applied to other species, as Cebus xanthosternos.

Son of the same parents as another person.

The bullfinch, common bullfinch, European bullfinch, or Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula).

A male having at least one parent in common with another (see half-brother, stepbrother).

The monkfish.

A male fellow member of a religious community, church, trades union etc.

(historical) A fuse for firing mines.

(informal) A form of address to a man.

(colloquial) A monkey.

(AAVE) A black male.

To be a monk.

Somebody, usually male, connected by a common cause, situation, or affection.

To act like a monk; especially to be contemplative.

Someone who is a peer, whether male or female.

To monkey or meddle; to behave in a manner that is not systematic.

(poetic) Someone who is a kinsman or shares the same patriarch.

To be intoxicated or confused.

(transitive) To treat as a brother.

To be attached in a way that sticks out.

Expressing exasperation.

A man who retires from the ordinary temporal concerns of the world, and devotes himself to religion; one of a religious community of men inhabiting a monastery, and bound by vows to a life of chastity, obedience, and poverty.

A male person who has the same father and mother with another person, or who has one of them only. In the latter case he is more definitely called a half brother, or brother of the half blood.

A blotch or spot of ink on a printed page, caused by the ink not being properly distributed. It is distinguished from a friar, or white spot caused by a deficiency of ink.

One related or closely united to another by some common tie or interest, as of rank, profession, membership in a society, toil, suffering, etc.; - used among judges, clergymen, monks, physicians, lawyers, professors of religion, etc.

A piece of tinder made of agaric, used in firing the powder hose or train of a mine.

One who, or that which, resembles another in distinctive qualities or traits of character.

A South American monkey (Pithecia monachus); also applied to other species, as Cebus xanthocephalus.

To make a brother of; to call or treat as a brother; to admit to a brotherhood.

A male religious living in a cloister and devoting himself to contemplation and prayer and work

A male with the same parents as someone else;

United States jazz pianist who was one of the founders of the bebop style (1917-1982)

A male person who is a fellow member (of a fraternity or religion of other group);

A close friend who accompanies his buddies in their activities

Used as a term of address for those male persons engaged in the same movement;

(Roman Catholic Church) a title given to a monk and used as form of address;