abbé
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abbé
- /æˈbeɪ/ US
- /ˈæb.eɪ/ US
Rhymes with -eɪ
Where it comes from
Unadapted borrowing from French abbé (“abbot”), from Latin abbās (“abbot”). Doublet of abbot.
noun abbés · abbe
- A low-ranking member of the Roman Catholic clergy in France who is not a member of a religious order, is not a priest, and can marry and inherit property; an honorific title for such a clergymember. At graduation [Pierre Simon] Laplace faced an anguishing dilemma. His master’s degree permitted him to take either the priestly vows of celibacy or the title of abbé, signifying a low-ranking clergyman who could marry and inherit property. Abbés did not have good reputations; Voltaire called them “t
- A French abbot, the (male) head of an abbey.
Talk about this word "abbé." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/abb%C3%A9. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. abbé. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/abb%C3%A9 "abbé." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/abb%C3%A9.Cite this
@misc{abbe_2026,
title = {abbé},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/abb%C3%A9},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
