In category theory, a branch of mathematics, a monoid (or monoid object, or internal monoid, or algebra) (M, μ, η) in a monoidal category (C, ⊗, I) is an object M together with two morphisms such that the pentagon diagram and the unitor diagram commute. In the above notation, 1 is the identity morphism of M, I is the unit element and α, λ and ρ are respectively the associativity, the left identity and the right identity of the monoidal category C. Dually, a comonoid in a monoidal category C is a monoid in the dual category Cop. Suppose that the monoidal category C has a symmetry γ. A monoid M in C is commutative when μ ∘ γ = μ.

Examples

Categories of monoids

Given two monoids (M, μ, η) and (M′, μ′, η′) in a monoidal category C, a morphism f : M → M′ is a morphism of monoids when In other words, the following diagrams , commute. The category of monoids in C and their monoid morphisms is written Mon****C.