église (French)
Where does "église" come from?
The French word "église," meaning "church," traces its origins back to the Ancient Greek "ekklēsía," which originally referred to a public assembly or gathering of people summoned by authority. This term was adopted into Latin to describe a Christian house of worship, eventually evolving through Old and Middle French into the modern spelling. Ultimately, the root connects back to the Proto-Indo-European "*kelh₁-," which carries the sense of calling or summoning.
Full etymology tree
- église (French), 'church'
- inherited eglise (Middle French), 'church'
- inherited eglise (Old French), 'church (building dedicated to religious practice; usually Christian)'
- inherited *eclesia (Vulgar Latin)
- inherited ecclēsia (Latin), 'church (a house of worship)'
- borrowed ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía) (Ancient Greek), 'assembly'
- compound ἔκκλητος (ékklētos) (Ancient Greek), 'selected to judge or arbitrate on a point'
- deverbal ἐκκαλέω (ekkaléō) (Ancient Greek)
- prefix ἐκ (ek) (Ancient Greek), 'Out of, from'
- derived καλέω (kaléō) (Ancient Greek), 'to call, summon'
- suffix -τος (-tos) (Ancient Greek), 'Creates perfective passive verbal adjectives (usually accented recessively)'
- inherited *-tós (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates verbal adjectives from verb roots.'
- deverbal ἐκκαλέω (ekkaléō) (Ancient Greek)
- suffix -ῐ́ᾱ (-ía) (Ancient Greek), 'Primitive suffix added to the stems of adjectives in -ύς (-ús) and some nouns to form feminine gender'
- inherited *-i-eh₂ (Proto-Indo-European)
- compound ἔκκλητος (ékklētos) (Ancient Greek), 'selected to judge or arbitrate on a point'
- borrowed ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía) (Ancient Greek), 'assembly'
- inherited ecclēsia (Latin), 'church (a house of worship)'
- inherited *eclesia (Vulgar Latin)
- inherited eglise (Old French), 'church (building dedicated to religious practice; usually Christian)'
- inherited eglise (Middle French), 'church'
Ancestors
- *kelh₁- (Proto-Indo-European)
- eglise (Middle French)
- eglise (Old French)
- ecclesia (Latin)
- ἐκκλησία (Ancient Greek)
Cognates and doublets
- església (Catalan)
- chiesa (Italian)
- igreja (Portuguese)
- iglesia (Spanish)
Descendants and derived words
- banc d'église (French)
- gueux comme un rat d'église (French)
- mot d'église (French)
- legliz (Haitian Creole)
- eglizy (Malagasy)
- legliz (Seychellois Creole)
Updated May 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris