Oblate
/ˈɒb.leɪt/noun
A person dedicated to a religious house or a flattened shape, especially one like a sphere compressed at the poles.
Did you know?In medieval Latin, an oblate was a child or person formally “offered” to a monastery, so the word carries the eerie sense of a life handed over to sacred authority.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bʰeh₂-
“to speak, say”
Latin
Latin
offerre
“to present, bring forward, offer”
Late Latin
Latin
oblatus
“offered, presented”
Middle English
English
oblate
“a person offered to a religious order”
Modern English
English
oblate
“a person dedicated to a religious order; flattened at the poles”