People who choose to live alone, usually for religious reasons, withdrawing from society to focus on spiritual practice.
From Greek 'eremites' (ἐρημίτης), derived from 'eremos' (ἔρημος) meaning 'desert' or 'solitary.' The term entered English via Late Latin and was popularized during the Christian monastic movement when religious hermits lived in deserts.
The early Christian eremites literally fled to Egyptian deserts in the 3rd-4th centuries to escape Roman persecution and find spiritual clarity—they weren't running away from life so much as running toward what they believed was ultimate truth, creating the template for all future monks and nuns.
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