a male mendicant ordained in the Bhikkhu Sangha, subject to the training rules of the Bhikkhu Patimokkha and the Khandhakas (the Mahavagga and Cullavagga).
A Bhikkhu (PÄli) or Bhiksu (Sanskrit) is a fully ordained male Buddhist monastic. Female monastics are called Bhikkhunis. Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis keep many precepts: they live by the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline.