Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
stylite

stylite

1 9.9
A Christian person who lives on top of a tall pillar to pray
  • noun
  • /ˈstaɪlaɪt/
  • Archaic
: estilita
  • The stylite stood on a pillar for years, dedicating his life to prayer and devotion.
  • Saint Simeon Stylites

Examples

  • Many early Christians admired the stylite, who willingly chose to live atop a tall column.

  • Stylite saints, suspended in air.

    Academic text (1998)

  • They say he leads services in the mines at night, that he shares his disciples' wives, and that he eats nothing but unleavened bread, like some desert prophet, some wild-eyed stylite.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The story of the stylite, who lived in extreme isolation, fascinates those interested in asceticism.

Surface Forms

stylite singular
stylites plural

Morphology

stylite = styl + ite

Although analyzable as the combining form styl- ('pillar') + the suffix -ite, the root styl- is not a productive standalone English word and learners cannot reliably infer 'pillar-dweller' from familiar words like 'style' or 'stylus'.

Etymology

The word stylite comes from the Greek stylos 'pillar' and the ending -ite meaning 'person connected with'. So a stylite was literally a 'pillar-dweller' who lived on top of a pillar as an extreme act of faith.