What does cloister mean?
Word: Cloister
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Cloister means a covered walkway with arches built round an open square in a monastery, convent or old college. It also means a quiet place shut away from the busy world.
Synonyms: arcade, monastery
Word origin: From Old French cloistre, from Latin claustrum, an enclosed place.
How do you spell cloister?
Syllables: clois - ter
Tricky part: The last syllable is spelt -er, not -or or -re: cloistor and cloistre are common slips.
Watch out for: cloistor, cloistre, cloisterr
Memory tip: A cloister is quieter than the busy street outside it, and both words end the same way, with -er.
Cloister in a sentence
Example 1: The students walked quietly round the cloister after their evening lessons.
Example 2: Our tour of the old college ended in a shady cloister with stone arches.
Example 3: The cloister garden had a small stone fountain in the middle.
Fun Fact
Latin claustrum, the root of cloister, also gave English claustrophobia, the fear of being shut in small spaces.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
clouister
a) i
b) u
c) s
d) o
Show answer
b) u. The vowel sound is spelt oi, as in moist, with no u slipping in.
Spell-o-Spell
Read the four words. Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. corridore 2. galery 3. balconey 4. cloister
a) an arched passage round a quiet inner courtyard
b) a long passage with rooms opening off it
c) a platform with a rail outside an upper window
d) a long room or building for showing art
Show answer
a) an arched passage round a quiet inner courtyard. Corridore and balconey each have an extra e and galery is missing an l; cloister is the only one spelt right.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word cloister as used in the sentence:
After the noisy city, the hill cottage felt like a peaceful cloister.
a) crowd
b) retreat
c) market
d) traffic
Show answer
b) retreat. A cloister in this sense is a quiet place away from the world, a retreat.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Sunlight fell through the arches of the old cloister onto the stone floor of the courtyerd.
a) arches
b) cloister
c) courtyerd
d) sunlight
Show answer
c) courtyerd. A courtyard is a yard enclosed by walls, so the end is spelt like yard.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these places is most likely to have a cloister?
a) a medieval college
b) a city market
c) a railway platform
d) a modern stadium
Show answer
a) a medieval college
2. Someone who leads a cloistered life ____.
a) sees little of the world outside
b) is famous across the country
c) goes to parties every night
d) travels abroad every year
Show answer
a) sees little of the world outside
