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Mosques were known to the English-speaking world long before we called them mosques. In the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, we used many different variations of the word—moseak, muskey, moschy, mos’keh, among others—until we finally hit on mosquee, emulating Middle French. The Middle French word had come by way of Italian and Old Spanish from the Arabic word for "temple," which is masjid. In the early 1700s, we settled on the present spelling, and mosque thus joined other English words related to Muslim worship: mihrab, for the special niche in a mosque that points towards Mecca; minaret, for the tall slender tower of a mosque; and muezzin, for the crier who, standing in the minaret, calls the hour of daily prayers.
Examples of mosque in a Sentence
Amanda Castro
peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 June 2025
Gendron’s manifesto discusses how he was radicalized on the dark web and inspired to attack after watching videos of Brenton Tarrant’s 2019 massacre of 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
—Alex Hinton, The Conversation, 17 June 2025
Schools, mosques, and the metro were opened for people to shelter in during the bombardment.
—Nbc News, NBC news, 15 June 2025
Air raid sirens sounded in Jordan with announcements from mosques advising Jordanians to seek shelter.
—Jane Arraf, NPR, 13 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for mosque
Cite this Entry
“Mosque.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mosque. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.
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mosque
noun
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