hermit vs loner

hermit

noun
  • A recluse; someone who lives alone and shuns human companionship. 

  • A religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite. 

  • A spiced cookie made with molasses, raisins, and nuts. 

  • A hermit crab. 

  • Any in the subfamily Phaethornithinae of hummingbirds. 

loner

noun
  • One who is alone, lacking or avoiding the company of others. 

How often have the words hermit and loner occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )