Množina: tonsures
ETYM French, from Latin tonsura a shearing, clipping, from tondere, tonsum, to shear, shave.
1. Shaving the crown of the head by priests or members of a monastic order.
2. The shaved crown of a monk's or priest's head.
To shave the head of a newly inducted monk.
shaving of small area on the crown of head of a priest or monk
The full or partial shaving of the head as a symbol of entering clerical or monastic orders. Until 1973 in the Roman Catholic Church, the crown was shaved (leaving a surrounding fringe to resemble Jesus' crown of thorns); in the Eastern Orthodox Church the hair is merely shorn close. For Buddhist monks, the entire head is shaved except for a topknot.