cilice

English

Etymology

From French cilice, from Latin cilicium (“clothing made of goatskin”), from Cilicia where it originates from.

Noun

cilice (plural cilices)

1. A garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair worn close to the skin used by members of various Christian traditions as a self-imposed means of penance (repentance) and mortification of the flesh.

   Synonyms: hairshirt, sackcloth

   • 1824, Robert Southey, “View of the Papal System”, in The Book of the Church. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 305–306:

     It was deemed meritorious to disfigure the body by neglect and filth, to extenuate it by fasting and watchfulness, to lacerate it with stripes, and to fret the wounds with cilices of horsehair.

2. (chiefly in Opus Dei) A leather strap studded with metallic barbs that cut into flesh as a constant reminder of Christ's suffering.
   • 2024 March 16, Antonia Cundy, “The Opus Dei diaries”, in FT Weekend, page 18:

     All she had done was give Teena a cilice, a barbed metal chain she was to tie around her thigh for two hours every day, and a discipline, a rope whip with knotted ends she was to use on her back when she prayed the Hail Mary.

Derived terms

• chain cilice
• hairshirt cilice

Related terms

• Cilicia

Translations

garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair

• Bulgarian: власеница f (vlasenica)
• Catalan: cilici (ca) m
• German: Cilicium n, Büßerhemd n, Büsserhemd n (Switzerland and Liechtenstein), härenes Hemd n
• Ido: cilico (io)
• Macedonian: власе́ница f (vlasénica)
• Polish: włosienica f
• Russian: власяни́ца (ru) f (vlasjaníca), вре́тище (ru) n (vrétišče)
• Ukrainian: волосяниця (uk) f (volosjanycja), власяни́ця f (vlasjanýcja), верета (uk) f (vereta)
• Welsh: crys rhawn m

Anagrams

• icicle

French

un cilice

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cilicium (“clothing made of goatskin”), from Cilicia where it originates from.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

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Noun

cilice m (plural cilices)

1. cilice (garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth)

Further reading

• “cilice”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.