Meaning

noun someone who has entered a religious order but has not taken final vows

noun someone new to a field or activity

originFrom Middle English novice, novys, from Anglo-Norman novice, Middle French novice, itself borrowed from Latin novīcius, later novitius (“new, newly arrived”) (in Late Latin as a noun, masculine novicius, feminine novicia (“one who has newly entered a monastery or a convent”)), from novus (“new”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0