# temple
## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: tĕm'p(ə)l, IPA: /ˈtɛmp(ə)l/
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛmpəl

### Etymology 1

From Middle English temple, from Old English templ, tempel, borrowed from Latin templum (“shrine, temple, area for auspices”). Compare Old High German tempal (“temple”), also a borrowing from the Latin.

#### Noun

temple (plural temples)
* A house of worship, especially:
** A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.
    The temple of Zeus was very large.
*** 1974, Donald R. DeGlopper, “Religion and Ritual in Lukang”, in Arthur P. Wolf, editor, Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Studies in Chinese Society)‎, Stanford: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 46:As of October 1968 Lukang, which had a resident population of between 27,000 and 28,000 people, had 39 temples. It is my impression that Lukang has more temples than do most Taiwanese communities of equivalent size. By temple I mean a structure that houses an image, altar, and incense pot, and is freely accessible to the general public. In speaking of the 39 temples of Lukang, I am omitting the numerous small shrines to the unknown dead (Yu Ying Kung), buildings dedicated to ancestors rather than deities (two), Christian churches (four), incense-burner associations that keep their incense pot or image in private homes, and private shrines such as the domestic altars of tang-ki (spirit mediums) or the shrine of the now defunct Ch'üan-chou guild, found in the back room of a drugstore endowed with the guild property.[...]Lukang, seen in comparative perspective, has a lot of temples.
** (Judaism) Synonym of synagogue, especially a non-Orthodox synagogue.
    How often do you go to temple?
** (Mormonism) As opposed to an LDS meetinghouse, a church closed to non-Mormons and necessary for particular rituals.
* A meeting house of the Oddfellows fraternity; its members.
* (figurative) Any place regarded as holding a religious presence.
* (figurative) Any place seen as an important centre for some activity.
    a temple of commerce; a temple of drinking and dining
* (figurative) Anything regarded as important or minutely cared for.
    My body is my temple.
** c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], lines 11–14:For nature crescent does not grow alone In thews and bulks, but as this temple waxes, The inward service of the mind and soul Grows wide withal.
* (figurative) A gesture wherein the forefingers are outstretched and touch pad to pad while the other fingers are clasped together.
** 2010, James LePore, A World I Never Made, page 251:Again Abdullah listened intently, his eyes closed, his ten fingers forming a temple of his hands in front of him.

##### Usage notes

* This word is rarely used in English to refer to a Christian house of worship, especially in Western Christianity.

##### Synonyms

* (house of worship): house of worship, place of worship

##### Hyponyms

* (house of worship): church (Christian, usually distinguished); mosque (Muslim, usually distinguished); synagogue (Jewish); gurudwara, gurdwara (Sikh); athenaeum (dedicated to Athena), Mithraeum (dedicated to Mithras); Iseum, Iseion (dedicated to Isis); serapeum (dedicated to Serapis); hecatompedon (a temple of 100 feet length or square); hof (Germanic pagan); see also Thesaurus:temple

##### Coordinate terms

* (house of worship): shrine (smaller)
* (exclusive Mormon house of worship): meeting house, church (non-exclusive)

##### Derived terms

* ancestral temple
* antetemple
* fire temple
* Holy Temple
* lineage temple
* nontemple
* temple block
* Temple Ewell
* Temple Fortune
* temple garment
* temple-goer
* temple-going
* Temple Guiting
* Temple Hirst
* Temple in Jerusalem
* templelike
* Temple Meads
* Temple Mills
* Temple Mount
* temple name
* Temple of Heaven
* temple of immensity
* temple orange
* Temple Sowerby
* temple title
* temple tree frog
* temple viper

##### Related terms

* Templar

##### Translations

Afrikaans: tempel (af)
Aghwan: 𐕊𐔰𐕜𐔰𐕙 (č̣aṭar)
Albanian: faltore (sq), tempull (sq)
Apache:
Western Apache: kįh biyiʼ daʼchʼokąąhí
Arabic: مَعْبَد m (maʕbad), هَيْكَل m (haykal)
Egyptian Arabic: معبد m (maʕbad)
Armenian: տաճար (hy) (tačar), մեհյան (hy) (mehyan) (pagan), բագին (hy) (bagin) (pagan)
Assamese: দৌল (doul), মন্দিৰ (mondir)
Asturian: templu (ast) m
Azerbaijani: məbəd, ibadətxana, ibadətgah
Baba Malay: tempeh
Bashkir: ғибәҙәтхана (ğibəźətxana)
Basque: tenplu
Belarusian: храм m (xram)
Bengali: মন্দির (bn) (mondir), মঠ (bn) (moṭh)
Bhojpuri: 𑂧𑂢𑂹𑂠𑂱𑂪 (mandil)
Bikol Central: templo
Bulgarian: храм (bg) m (hram)
Burmese: ဘုရား (my) (bhu.ra:), ဝတ်ကျောင်း (my) (watkyaung:), နားထင် (my) (na:htang)
Catalan: temple (ca) m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 廟 / 庙 (miu$^{6-2}$), 寺廟 / 寺庙 (zi$^6$ miu$^{6-2}$)
Mandarin: 寺廟 / 寺庙 (zh) (sìmiào), 寺 (zh) (sì) (Buddhist); 庙 (zh) (miào) (Taoist, Confucian), 寺院 (zh) (sìyuàn), 神殿 (zh) (shéndiàn)
Cornish: eglos teg f
Czech: chrám (cs) m
Danish: tempel c
Dutch: tempel (nl) m
Dzongkha: ལྷ་ཁང (lha khang)
Egyptian: (ḥwt-nṯr f), (r-pr m)
Esperanto: templo (eo)
Faroese: tempul n
Finnish: temppeli (fi)
French: temple (fr) m
Galician: templo (gl) m
Georgian: ტაძარი (ṭaʒari)
German: Tempel (de) m
Gothic: 𐌰𐌻𐌷𐍃 f (alhs), 𐌲𐌿𐌳𐌷𐌿𐍃 n (gudhus)
Greek: ναός (el) m (naós)
Ancient: ναός m (naós), ἱερόν n (hierón)
Gujarati: મંદિર n (mandir)
Hawaiian: heiau
Hebrew: מִקְדָּשׁ (he) m (mikdásh)
Hindi: मंदिर (hi) m (mandir), मठ (hi) m (maṭh)
Hungarian: szentély (hu), templom (hu)
Icelandic: musteri (is) n, hof (is) n
Ido: templo (io)
Indonesian: kuil (id), pura (id) (Balinese Hinduism), wihara (id) (Buddhist temple), kelenteng (id) (Chinese (Confucian) temple)
Interlingua: templo
Irish: teampall m
Old Irish: tempul m
Isan: please add this translation if you can
Italian: tempio (it) m
Japanese: 神殿 (ja) (しんでん, shinden), Buddhist temple: 堂塔 (ja) (どうとう, dōtō), 寺 (ja) (てら, tera), 寺院 (ja) (じいん, jiin), (Shinto shrine) 神社 (ja) (じんじゃ, jinja), 寺院 (ja) (じいん, jiin)
Kannada: ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನ (kn) (dēvasthāna)
Kazakh: ғыйбадатһана (ğyibadathana), храм (xram), ғибадатхана (ğibadatxana)
Khmer: វត្ត (km) (vŏət), ប្រាសាទ (km) (praasaat)
Konkani: ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನ (dēvasthān)
Korean: 절 (ko) (jeol), 사찰(寺刹) (ko) (sachal), 사원(寺院) (ko) (sawon)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: پەرستگا (peristga)
Kyrgyz: ибадаткана (ibadatkana), храм (ky) (hram)
Ladino: templo
Lao: ວັດ (lo) (wat)
Latin: templum (la), aedis f, dēlūbrum n, fānum n
Latvian: templis m
Lithuanian: šventykla f
Lü: ᦞᧆ (vad)
Macedonian: храм (mk) m (hram)
Magahi: 𑂧𑂢𑂹𑂠𑂱𑂪 (mandil)
Malay: kuil (ms)
Malayalam: അമ്പലം (ml) (ampalaṁ), ദേവാലയം (ml) (dēvālayaṁ)
Maltese: tempju m, maqdes m
Maori: temepara
Marathi: देऊळ (deūḷ), मंदिर (mr) n (mandir)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: сүм (mn) (süm), сүм дуган (süm dugan), дуган (mn) (dugan)
Mongolian: ᠰᠦᠮ ᠡ (süm e)
Norman: templ'ye m
Norwegian:
Bokmål: tempel (no) n
Nynorsk: tempel n
Occitan: temple (oc)
Odia: ମନ୍ଦିର (or) (mandira)
Old English: ealh m, tempel
Old Galician-Portuguese: templo
Ottoman Turkish: عبادتخانه (ʼibâdethâne)
Parthian: 𐭁𐭂𐭍𐭉 (bgny /⁠baγin⁠/)
Pashto: معبد m (ma'bad), بتخانه (ps) f (botxāna)
Persian:
Iranian Persian: پَرَسْتِشْکَدِه (parasteškade), مَعْبَد (ma'bad), ناوُس (nâvos), فَرْخار (farxâr), فَغِسْتان (fağestân), عِبادَتْخانِه (ebâdatxâne), پَرَسْتِشْگاه (parastešgâh), عِبادَتْگاه (ebâdatgâh)
Plautdietsch: Tempel m
Polish: świątynia (pl) f
Portuguese: templo (pt) m
Romani: khangeri f
Romanian: templu (ro) n
Russian: храм (ru) m (xram), ме́сто богослуже́ния n (mésto bogoslužénija)
Sanskrit: देवालय (sa) (devālaya), मठ (sa) m (maṭha)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: хра̑м m, бого̀моља f
Roman: hrȃm (sh) m, bogòmolja (sh) f
Shan: please add this translation if you can
Slovak: chrám (sk) m
Slovene: tempelj (sl) m
Spanish: templo (es) m
Old Spanish: templo
Swahili: hekalu
Swedish: tempel (sv) n
Tagalog: templo (tl)
Tajik: ибодатхона (ibodatxona), маъбад (maʾbad), фархор (farxor), парастишгоҳ (parastišgoh), ибодатгоҳ (ibodatgoh)
Tamil: கோயில் (ta) (kōyil), தேவளம் (ta) (tēvaḷam), தேவாலயம் (ta) (tēvālayam)
Tatar: гыйбадәтханә (tt) (ğıybadätxanä)
Telugu: కోవెల (te) (kōvela), ఆలయము (te) (ālayamu), గుడి (te) (guḍi), దేవళము (te) (dēvaḷamu)
Thai: วัด (th) (wát)
Tibetan: ལྷ་ཁང (lha khang)
Turkish: tapınak (tr), toplak (tr), ibadethane (tr) (archaic), mabet (tr)
Turkmen: ybadathana
Ukrainian: храм (uk) m (xram)
Umbrian: 𐌖𐌄𐌓𐌚𐌀𐌋𐌄 (uerfale)
Urdu: مَعْبَد m (ma'bad), مَٹھ m (maṭh), عِبادَت گاہ m ('ibādat gāh), مَنْدِر m (mandir)
Uyghur: يباداتھانا (ybadathana), تاۈينيديغان چاي (taüynydyghan chay)
Uzbek: ibodatxona (uz), butxona (uz), maʻbad (uz), ibodatgoh (uz)
Vietnamese: đền (vi), thiền viện, (Buddhist or Hindu) chùa (vi)
Welsh: teml
Yiddish: טעמפּל m (templ), שול f (shul) (Jewish)
Yoruba: tẹmpili, ile Ọlọrun
Zhuang: caeh :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Verb

temple (third-person singular simple present temples, present participle templing, simple past and past participle templed)
* (transitive) To build a temple for; to appropriate a temple to; to temple a god
** 1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political:though the Heathen (in many places) Templed and adored this drunken God

### Etymology 2

Picture dictionary :
head
skull
brain
eye
lip
nose
mouth
chin
jaw
ear
temple
neck :
From Middle English temple, from Old French temple, from Vulgar Latin *temp(u)la, from Latin tempora (“the temples”), plural of tempus (“temple, head, face”). See temporal bone.

#### Noun

temple (plural temples)
* (anatomy) The slightly flatter region, on either side of the head of a vertebrate, including a human, behind the eye and forehead, above the zygomatic arch, and forward of the ear.
** 2013 December 9, Amy Standen, “Epilepsy Patients Help Decode The Brain's Hidden Signals”, in NPR‎:A few days after the electrodes were implanted, Bennett welcomed visitors into his hospital room. His head is wrapped in bandages. A thick braid of wires hangs from his left temple.
* (ophthalmology) Either of the sidepieces on a set of spectacles, extending backwards from the hinge toward the ears and, usually, turning down around them.

##### Derived terms

* temple fade
* temple ring

##### Related terms

* temporal

##### Translations

Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
Adyghe: please add this translation if you can
Afrikaans: slaap (af)
Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: صَدْغ m (ṣadḡ)
Egyptian Arabic: حنطور عين m (ḥanṭūr ʕēn), صدغ m (ṣadḡ), سداغ f pl (sedāḡ)
Armenian: քունք (hy) (kʻunkʻ)
Asturian: vidaya (ast) f, tenllera (ast) f
Azerbaijani: gicgah (az)
Bashkir: сикә (sikə)
Basque: loki
Belarusian: скронь f (skronʹ)
Bhojpuri: 𑂍𑂢𑂣𑂗𑂹𑂗𑂲 (kanpaṭṭī)
Bulgarian: слепоо́чие (bg) n (slepoóčie)
Catalan: templa (ca) f, pols (ca) m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 魂精 (wan$^4$ zeng$^1$)
Mandarin: 顳顬 / 颞颥 (zh) (nièrú), 太陽穴 / 太阳穴 (zh) (tàiyángxué), 鬢角 / 鬓角 (zh) (bìnjiǎo)
Coptic: ⲥⲙⲁⲩ m pl (smau)
Czech: spánek (cs) m
Danish: tinding (da) m
Dutch: slaap (nl) m
Egyptian: (mꜣꜥ)
Esperanto: tempio (eo)
Fala: sen
Finnish: ohimo (fi)
French: tempe (fr) f
Galician: sen (gl) f, tempa (gl) f, vidalla (gl) f
Georgian: საფეთქელი (sapetkeli)
German: Schläfe (de) f
Greek: κρόταφος (el) m (krótafos)
Ancient: κρόταφος m (krótaphos), κόρση f (kórsē)
Greenlandic: tulleq
Guaraní: atĩ (gn)
Gujarati: લમણું (lamṇũ)
Hebrew: רַקָּה (he) f (raká)
Hungarian: halánték (hu)
Icelandic: gagnauga (is) n
Ido: temporo (io)
Indonesian: pelipis (id)
Ingrian: lekama
Interlingua: tempora
Irish: uisinn f
Italian: tempia (it) f
Japanese: 顳顬 (ja) (こめかみ, komekami, しょうじゅ, shōju), 蟀谷 (ja) (こめかみ, komekami)
Kalmyk: цох (tsox)
Kazakh: самай (samai), шеке (şeke)
Korean: 관자놀이 (ko) (gwanjanori)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: cênîk (ku) f
Latgalian: dzausnys, pluonumi
Latin: tempus (la) n
Latvian: deniņi
Lithuanian: smilkinỹs
Low German:
Dutch Low Saxon: dunegge (Sallands)
Macedonian: слепоо́чница f (slepoóčnica)
Magahi: 𑂍𑂢𑂣𑂗𑂹𑂗𑂲 (kanpaṭṭī)
Maithili: कनपट्टी (kanᵊpaṭṭī)
Malay: pelipis
Malayalam: ചെന്നി (ml) (cenni)
Maltese: ngħas m
Manchu: ᡧᡠᠯᡠ (šulu)
Maori: rahirahinga
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: чамархай (mn) (čamarxaj)
Mongolian: ᠴᠢᠮᠠᠷᠬᠠᠢ (čimarqai)
Nepali: कन्चट (ne) (kancaṭ)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: tinning m or f
Nynorsk: tinning m
Old English: þunwange f
Old Galician-Portuguese: trincheira f
Old Norse: þunnvangi
Ottoman Turkish: شقاق (şakak), طولون (tulun), صدغ (sadg)
Persian: گیجگاه (fa) (gijgâh)
Polish: skroń (pl) f
Portuguese: têmpora (pt) f
Romani: korrijakh f
Romanian: tâmplă (ro)
Russian: висо́к (ru) m (visók)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: слепоочница f
Roman: slepoočnica f
Sicilian: sonnu (scn) m
Slovak: slucha f, spánok m
Slovene: sence n
Spanish: sien (es) f
Swedish: tinning (sv) c
Tagalog: pilipisan, sentido
Tamil: நெற்றி (ta) (neṟṟi)
Thai: ขมับ (th) (kà-màp)
Tibetan: ཡ་མ (ya ma)
Turkish: şakak (tr), dulun sg
Ugaritic: 𐎔𐎛𐎚 (pỉt)
Ukrainian: скро́ня f (skrónja), висо́к m (vysók)
Uzbek: chakka (uz)
Vietnamese: thái dương (vi), màng tang
Welsh: arlais f
West Frisian: sliep
Yiddish: שלייף f (shleyf)
Yoruba: ẹrán
Zazaki: kelwe
Zhuang: please add this translation if you can
Zulu: please add this translation if you can
ǃXóõ: ʘqʻûbe tshôe :

### Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin templum (“a small timber, a purlin”); compare templet and template.

#### Noun

temple (plural temples)
* (weaving) A contrivance used in a loom for keeping the web stretched transversely.
    Synonym: template

##### Translations
### Further reading

* “temple”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “temple”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* pelmet

## Catalan
### Etymology

From Latin templum.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ˈtem.plə]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈtem.ple]

### Noun

temple m (plural temples)
* temple (building)

#### Derived terms

* templer

### Further reading

* “temple” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “temple”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “temple” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “temple” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## French
### Etymology

Inherited from Old French temple, borrowed from Latin templum.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tɑ̃pl/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

temple m (plural temples)
* temple (for worship)
* Protestant church
* hall
    Le Temple de la renommée du hockey.The Hockey Hall of Fame.

#### Usage notes

Traditionally, in Europe, Protestant churches are referred to as temples rather than églises. In Canada, église is used for all Christian churches.

#### Derived terms

* temple de la renommée
* templier

#### Descendants

* → Romanian: templu

### Further reading

* “temple”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Old English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtem.ple/

### Noun

temple
* dative singular of tempel

## Old French
### Etymology 1

From Vulgar Latin *temp(u)la, from Latin tempora, plural of tempus.

#### Noun

temple oblique singular, m (oblique plural temples, nominative singular temples, nominative plural temple)
* (anatomy) temple

##### Descendants

* French: tempe
* → Middle English: temple
** English: temple

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin templum.

#### Noun

temple oblique singular, m (oblique plural temples, nominative singular temples, nominative plural temple)
* temple (building where religious services take place)

##### Descendants

* French: temple
** → Romanian: templu
* → Old Spanish: temple

## Old Spanish
### Etymology

From Old Occitan temple or Old French temple. Compare the inherited tiemplo and the learned form templo, all ultimately from Latin templum.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtemple/

### Noun

temple m (plural temples)
* temple
** c. 1200, Almerich, Fazienda de Ultramar, f. 53v:embiol ael aſenachaerib toda la plata q̃ pudo trobar en la del criador. e el teſoro de los reẏſ. eſtoz cranto ezechias las puertas del temple e todo quanto pudo aù embiolo al reẏ de ſiria esto peſo al criadorHe sent Sennacherib all the silver he could find in the [house] of the Creator and the treasury of the kings. Then Hezekiah broke the doors of the temple and all that there was he sent to the king of Assyria. This weighed upon the Creator.

#### Synonyms

* templo m, tiemplo m

## Romanian
### Noun

temple
* plural of templu

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtemple/ [ˈt̪ẽm.ple]
* Rhymes: -emple
* Syllabification: tem‧ple

### Etymology 1

Deverbal from templar.

#### Noun

temple m (plural temples)
* mood; humour (of a person)
** 1897, Benito Pérez Galdós, Misericordia:Halló a Doña Paca de mal temple, porque se había parecido en la casa, muy de mañana, un dependiente de la tienda, y habíala insultado […][She] found Doña Paca in a bad mood, because very early in the morning a shopkeeper showed up at the house, and had insulted her […]
* mettle; courage; spunk
* tempering
* temperature
* (music) tuning
* (bullfighting) a move of the cape before a charge

##### Derived terms

* pintura al temple

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

temple
* inflection of templar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative

### Further reading

* “temple”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10