Ascetic
Etymology
From Greek "asketikos," from "askesis" (exercise, training) and "askein" (to exercise or train, as athletes did). Early Christian monks borrowed the athletic vocabulary to describe spiritual "training" through fasting and self-denial. So the word’s buried image is of the disciplined athlete, redirected from the body’s strength to the soul’s.
adjective · /uh-SET-ik/
Practicing severe self-discipline and abstaining from pleasure and comfort, often for a higher purpose.
What it names
Chosen austerity — renouncing indulgence on principle, whether for spiritual, moral, or disciplinary ends.
Example
He lived an ascetic life in the mountains, one room, plain food, and hours of silence.
Related idea
The frugal spend carefully to save; the ascetic renounces comfort and pleasure on principle, often as spiritual discipline rather than economy.