temple – English noun declension

English noun forms of temple

Noun: temple
Singulartemple
Pluraltemples

Sample Sentences

  • The temple of Zeus was very large.
  • 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. [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:]
  • How often do you go to temple?
  • a temple of commerce; a temple of drinking and dining
  • My body is my temple.
  • 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. [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:]
  • Again Abdullah listened intently, his eyes closed, his ten fingers forming a temple of his hands in front of him. [2010, James LePore, A World I Never Made, page 251:]

Etymology

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. Displaced native Old English ealh. See: Middle English Nouns 'temple', Old English Nouns 'templ', Latin Nouns 'templum'.