Chapel
/ˈtʃæp.əl/noun
A small place of Christian worship, often attached to a larger church, institution, or private residence.
Did you know?The word comes from Latin *cappa* (“cloak”), because a revered cloak of St. Martin was kept in a shrine called a *cappella*—and that word later spread into English as *chapel*.
Etymological Timeline
Late Latin
Latin
cappa
“cloak or cape”
Early Medieval Latin
Latin
cappella
“little cloak; the shrine or sanctuary where a sacred cloak was kept”
Old French
OF
chapelle
“small church or sanctuary”
Middle English
ME
chapel
“a small place of worship”
Modern English
English
chapel
“a small place of Christian worship”