church

== English == === Alternative forms === churche, chirche (obsolete) chu'ch, chuuch (African-American Vernacular) chuhch (eye dialect) === Etymology === From Middle English chirche, from Old English ċiriċe (“church”), from Proto-West Germanic *kirikā, an early borrowing of Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón), neuter form of κυριακός (kuriakós, “belonging to the lord”), from κύριος (kúrios, “ruler, lord”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“to swell, spread out, be strong, prevail”). Doublet of kirk. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, Australian) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɜːt͡ʃ/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɝt͡ʃ/ (New Zealand, Wales) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃøːt͡ʃ/ (Scotland) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃʌɾt͡ʃ/ (Liverpool, fair–fur merger) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃeːt͡ʃ/ (Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛːt͡ʃ/ (Early Modern) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃʊrt͡ʃ/, (rarer) /ˈt͡ʃɪrt͡ʃ/ Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tʃ Hyphenation: church === Noun === church (countable and uncountable, plural churches) (countable, Christianity) A Christian house of worship; a building where Christian religious services take place. [from 9th c.] Christians collectively seen as a single spiritual community; Christianity; Christendom. [from 9th c.] Acts 20:28, New International Version: Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. (countable) A local group of people who follow the same Christian religious beliefs, local or general. [from 9th c.] (countable) A particular denomination of Christianity. [from 9th c.] (uncountable, countable, as bare noun) Christian worship held at a church; service. [from 10th c.] (uncountable) Organized religion in general or a specific religion considered as a political institution. (informal) Any religious group or place of worship; a temple. [from 16th c.] (obsolete) Assembly. ==== Usage notes ==== Several senses of church are routinely used in prepositional phrases as a bare noun, without a determiner or article. Go to church signifies "attend a church service" while go to a/the church signifies "physically go to a church building, probably without attending a service." She is at church means "she is currently attending a service," while She is at the church means "She is at the church building, and probably not currently in a service." This is like home and unlike house, and like hospital in British but not American English. (organized religion): Often capitalized as "(the) Church" without referring to a specific formal institution with that title. ==== Synonyms ==== autem (obsolete, Britain, thieves’ cant) (building): chapel (small church), kirk (Scotland) (group of worshipers): congregation ==== Hypernyms ==== (religious group): religion (house of worship): building ==== Hyponyms ==== See also Thesaurus:church ==== Coordinate terms ==== circle, fire temple, gurdwara, heiau, hof, House of Worship, jinja, mandir, monastery, mosque, pagoda, synagogue, temple ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Descendants ==== Pijin: sios Tok Pisin: sios → Hausa: cōcì → Hindi: चर्च (carc) → Limburgish: sjoeëtsj, sjuutsj → Urdu: چَرْچ (carc) ==== Translations ==== === Verb === church (third-person singular simple present churches, present participle churching, simple past and past participle churched) (transitive, Christianity, now historical) To conduct a religious service for (a woman after childbirth, or a newly married couple). [from 15th c.] (transitive) To educate someone religiously, as in a church. ==== Translations ==== === Interjection === church (slang) Used to express strong agreement. Synonym: preach === See also === Appendix:Ecclesiastical terms === References === === Further reading === church on Wikipedia.Wikipedia == Middle English == === Noun === church alternative form of chirche