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tem·ple¹

(tĕmpəl)

a. A building dedicated to religious ceremonies or worship.

b. Temple Either of two successive buildings in ancient Jerusalem serving as the primary center for Jewish worship.

c. Judaism A synagogue, especially of a Reform congregation.

d. Mormon Church A building in which the sacred ordinances are administered.

2. Something regarded as having within it a divine presence.

3. A building used for meetings by any of several fraternal orders, such as the Freemasons.

4. A building reserved for a highly valued function: the library, a temple of learning.

5. Temple Either of two groups of buildings in London, the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple, that house two of the four Inns of Court and that occupy the site of a complex used by the medieval Knights Templars.

[Middle English, from Old English tempel, from Latin templum; see tem- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

tem·ple²

(tĕmpəl)

1. The flat region on either side of the forehead.

2. Either of the sidepieces of a frame for eyeglasses that extends along the temple and over the ear.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *tempula, from Latin tempora, pl. of tempus, temple of the head.]

tem·ple³

(tĕmpəl)

A device in a loom that keeps the cloth stretched to the correct width during weaving.

[Middle English tempille, from Old French temple, possibly from Latin templum, small piece of timber; see tem- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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