What does cloister mean?
A cloister is a covered walkway, typically with a row of arches or columns on one side, that surrounds an open square courtyard — known as a garth — in a monastery, convent, or cathedral. It served as a central passage in monastic architecture, connecting the church to the chapter house, refectory, and dormitory while offering a sheltered space for meditation and study. Beyond its architectural sense, the word also refers more broadly to places of religious seclusion and to the contemplative, enclosed life led there. Derived from the Latin claustrum, meaning an enclosed space, it shares a root with such everyday words as close, recluse, and seclusion — a fitting ancestry for a structure whose very purpose was to enclose and protect. Figuratively, describing someone as having lived within cloistered walls suggests a life removed from worldly bustle, sometimes with a hint of sheltered innocence.
A covered walkway or arcade surrounding a quadrangle in a monastery, convent, or cathedral.
"Visitors paused beneath the Romanesque arches of the abbey's cloister."
Often used in the plural ('the cloisters') when referring collectively to these passages in a building complex.
A place of religious seclusion; monastic life considered as withdrawn from the world.
"He left his legal career behind and embraced the cloister at the age of thirty."
The plural commonly refers collectively to all the covered walks of a single complex, as in 'the cloisters of the cathedral'.
"Tourists wandered through the cloisters, admiring the carved capitals on each column."
The word 'cloister' and 'close', as in 'close the door', come from the very same Latin verb — both trace back to claudere, 'to shut'.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cloister
Cloister comes from the Latin claustrum, 'an enclosed place' or 'bar', derived from the verb claudere, 'to shut'. It entered English through Old French in the Middle Ages, where cloistre referred to the enclosed walks of a monastery. Its cognates include close, clause, recluse, and seclusion, all descendants of the same Latin root — which is why closing a door and walking a cloister are etymological cousins. The adjective cloistered developed later, extending the idea of enclosure to describe secluded people and lives.
Related word forms
How cloister is actually used
The noun is largely neutral to formal in register, appearing most often in architectural, historical, and religious contexts. The figurative sense — a secluded, protected world — carries a connotation of withdrawal from ordinary life, sometimes implying sheltered naivety when used of people.
Easily confused with cloister
A monastery is the entire residential complex of monks, while the cloister is specifically its covered, colonnaded courtyard walkway.