Word of the Day

: November 18, 2018

chapel

noun CHAP-ul

What It Means

1 : a subordinate or private place of worship

2 : a place of worship used by a Christian group other than an established church

3 : a choir of singers belonging to a chapel

4 : a chapel service or assembly at a school or college

chapel in Context

The school required all of its students to attend chapel daily.

"The monastery contains a chapel, 26 bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, meeting rooms, offices, a library and a gift shop." — Thomas Saccente, The Times Record (Fort Smith, Arkansas), 8 Oct. 2018

Did You Know?

Chapel is ultimately derived from the Late Latin word cappa, meaning "cloak." How did we get from a garment to a building? The answer to this question has to do with a shrine created to hold the sacred cloak of St. Martin of Tours. In Medieval Latin, this shrine was called cappella (from a diminutive of cappa, meaning "short cloak or cape") in reference to the relic it contained. Later, the meaning of cappella broadened to include any building that housed a sacred relic, and eventually to a place of worship. Anglo-French picked up the term as chapele, which in turn passed into English as chapel in the 13th century. In case you are wondering, the term a cappella, meaning "without instrumental accompaniment," entered English from Italian, where it literally means "in chapel style."