ETYM Old Eng. ermite, eremite, heremit, heremite, French hermite, ermite, Latin eremita, Greek, from eremos lonely, solitary. Related to Eremite.
One who lives in solitude; SYN. recluse, troglodyte.
Religious ascetic living in seclusion, often practising extremes of mortification (such as the Stylites, early Christians who lived on top of pillars).
The Christian monastic movement developed as a way of organizing into communities the ascetic hermits living in the deserts of ancient Egypt and the Middle East.