Link Centre Dictionary

church

UK/ˈt͡ʃøːt͡ʃ/ US/ˈt͡ʃɜːt͡ʃ/ very common informal slang
noun (4) verb (1)

noun

1.

one of the groups of Christians who have their own beliefs and forms of worship

Synonyms
2.

a place for public (especially Christian) worship

  • “the church was empty”
Synonyms
3.

a service conducted in a church

  • “don”
Synonyms
4.

the body of people who attend or belong to a particular local church

  • “our church is hosting a picnic next week”

verb

1.

perform a special church rite or service for

  • “church a woman after childbirth”

Origin

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. Additional etymological information For vowel evolution, see bury. Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón) was used of houses of Christian worship since circa 300 CE, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía, “congregation”) or βασιλική (basilikḗ, “royal thing”). An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic progress of many Christian words, possibly via the Goths; it was probably used by West Germanic people in their pre-Christian period. Cognate with Scots kirk (“church”), West Frisian tsjerke (“church”), Saterland Frisian Säärke (“church”), Dutch kerk (“church”), German Kirche (“church”), Danish kirke (“church”), Swedish kyrka (“church”), Norwegian Bokmål kirke, Norwegian Nynorsk kyrkje (“church”), and Faroese and Icelandic kirkja (“church”). Also picked up by Slavic, via Old High German chirih...

Phrases

  • and the church says amen
  • at church every time the doors are open
  • at church every time the doors swing open
  • cathedral church
  • Church Age
  • Church Assembly
  • Church Brampton
  • Church Broughton

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.