# cloister

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈklɔɪstə/ · frequency rank #39,248

## Definitions
1. A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that surround a quadrangle; especially:
2. A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that surround a quadrangle; especially:
3. A place, especially a monastery or convent, devoted to religious seclusion.
4. The monastic life.

## Etymology
Recorded since about 1300 as Middle English cloistre, borrowed from Old French cloistre, clostre, or via Old English clauster, both from Medieval Latin claustrum (“portion of monastery closed off to laity”), from Latin claustrum (“place shut in, bar, bolt, enclosure”), a derivation of the past participle of claudere (“to close”). Doublet of claustrum.

## Easily confused with
- **closer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cloister-vs-closer)
- **cluster** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cloister-vs-cluster)
- **coaster** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cloister-vs-coaster)
- **canister** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/canister-vs-cloister)

## Common misspellings (12)
`ccloister`, `clioster`, `clloister`, `cloisetr`, `cloisster`, `cloisterr`, `cloistre`, `cloistter`, `cloitser`, `clositer`, `colister`, `lcoister`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cloister