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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
Angie Leventis Lourgos, Chicago Tribune, 3 May 2026
Arwa locations are painted in natural desert tones, with archways that mimic mosques and lampshades shaped like the hats worn by Yemen’s coffee farmers.
—ABC News, 2 May 2026
Lebanese state media reported late Saturday night that an Israeli strike on a mosque in the village of Saamaiyeh killed three people.
—Mitchell McCluskey, CNN Money, 2 May 2026
That includes schools, churches, synagogues, mosques, crisis centers, shelters, food banks, and day care centers, among others.
—Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 1 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for mosque
Cite this Entry
“Mosque.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mosque. Accessed 5 May. 2026.
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mosque
noun
