1. (n.) The state of being a novice; time of initiation or instruction in rudiments.

2. (n.) Hence: Time of probation in a religious house before taking the vows.

3. (n.) One who is going through a novitiate, or period of probation; a novice.

4. (n.) The place where novices live or are trained.

aboriginal allographic alphabetarian alphabetic antenatal apprentice articled clerk autochthonous beginner beginning boot budding capital catechumen certified teacher creative dabbler debutant dilettante docent doctor dominie don educationist educator elemental elementary embryonic entrant fellow fetal fledgling formative foundational freshman fundamental gestatory graphemic greenhorn guide guru ideographic ignoramus in embryo in its infancy in the bud inaugural inceptive inchoate inchoative incipient incunabular inductee infant infantile initial initiate initiative initiatory instructor introductory inventive lettered lexigraphic literal logogrammatic logographic lower-case maestro majuscule master melamed mentor minuscular minuscule mullah nascent natal neophyte new boy newcomer nonprofessional novice novitiate original pandit parturient pedagogist pedagogue pictographic postnatal postulant preceptor pregnant prenatal primal primary prime primeval primitive primogenial probationer probationist procreative professor pundit rabbi raw recruit recruit rookie rudimental rudimentary schoolkeeper schoolmaster schoolteacher smatterer starets teacher tenderfoot transliterated tyro uncial upper-case ur