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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

Recent Examples on the Web The surface of the mosque's one remaining minaret is embellished with Seljuk, Artuqid and Ottoman inscriptions. — Lisa Morrow, CNN, 10 May 2022 The building, which has been vacant for several months, once housed a Unity Center of Northeast Ohio mosque. — Bob Sandrick, cleveland, 9 May 2022 At the Seyyed Abad Mosque, the largest Shiite mosque in the city of Kunduz in the country’s north, only around 50 worshipers arrived for prayers on Sunday morning — compared to 400 to 500 people in previous years, attendees said. — New York Times, 8 May 2022 The two religious communities shared the water source and built their church and mosque near it and hesitantly supported each other over the tumultuous decades ahead. — San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2022 American Muslim women are finding a unique religious space at a women-only mosque in Los Angeles. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2022 Hamas has stepped up a mass-media campaign urging Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel to attack Jews in the wake of clashes between Israeli security forces and Muslims around the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. — WSJ, 3 May 2022 At the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, tens of thousands of Muslims attended prayers Monday morning. — Mariam Fam, Chicago Tribune, 2 May 2022 At the Istiqlal Grand Mosque in Jakarta, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, tens of thousands of people congregated for Eid prayers this year. — Washington Post, 2 May 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mosque.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.