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An abbess is a woman who is in charge of a — a house where nuns live, pray, and work together. She is to the nuns what an is to monks: the head of the house, the one who decides and who speaks for the community. It is a Christian church title, mostly Catholic and a few older orders. You will meet it in history books, in stories set in the past, and when people talk about famous old . You would not use it for a school head, a company boss, or a Buddhist temple leader. The job is rare in everyday life in Taiwan, but the word is steady in English reading.
女修道院院長
組成From Middle English abbesse, from Old French abeesse (French abbesse), from Latin abbatissa, the feminine of abbas, abbatis (“abbot”). Built on the old word for “father.”
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
abbessnoun/ˈæb.ɪs/
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A female superior or governess of a nunnery, or convent of nuns, having the same authority over the nuns which the abbots have over the monks.
- The abbess was always after the nuns to keep the convent immaculately clean.
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archaicslangA woman who runs a brothel; a woman employed by a prostitute to find clients.
- Why laſt night, as Colonel Kill'em, Sir William Weezy, Lord Frederick Foretop, and I were careleſsly ſliding the Ranelagh round, picking our teeth, after a damn'd muzzy dinner at Boodle's, who ſhould trip by but an abbeſs, well known about town, with a ſmart little nun in her ſuite.
- So an old Abbess for the rattling Rakes, / A tempting dish of human nature makes, / And dresses up a luscious Maid: / I rather should have said, indeed, undresses, / To please a youth's unsanctified caresses.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。