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Local spats could now feed into a mass movement that spread far beyond individual disputes between a peasant and a particularly nasty abbot or lord.—Literary Hub, 25 Sep. 2025 By the 1930s the newly emerging field of genetics was growing in popularity, based primarily on the studies of the Austrian biologist and Catholic abbot Gregor Mendel.—D. Scott Schmid, Denver Post, 22 Sep. 2025 But in 2022 the three nuns’ lives were changed when Markus Grasl, an abbot, took over the management of the building, the Times reported.—David Chiu, PEOPLE, 19 Sep. 2025 Clarke, who was the abbot of St. Mary’s Abbey from 1975 to 1995, died in 2019.—Corky Siemaszko, NBC news, 23 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for abbot
Word History
Etymology
Middle English abbot, abbod, going back to Old English, borrowed from Late Latin abbāt-, abbās, borrowed from Late Greek abbâs (also, a title of respect given to monks), borrowed from Aramaic abbā "father"
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of abbot was
before the 12th century
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