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Chapel is ultimately derived from the Late Latin word cappa, meaning "cloak." How did we get from a garment to a building? The answer to this question has to do with a shrine created to hold the sacred cloak of St. Martin of Tours. In Medieval Latin, this shrine was called cappella (from a diminutive of cappa, meaning "short cloak or cape") in reference to the relic it contained. Later, the meaning of cappella broadened to include any building that housed a sacred relic, and eventually to a place of worship. Anglo-French picked up the term as chapele, which in turn passed into English as chapel in the 13th century. In case you are wondering, the term a cappella, meaning "without instrumental accompaniment," entered English from Italian, where it literally means "in chapel style."
Examples of chapel in a Sentence
Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Apr. 2024
Students are required to attend chapel a certain number of times each semester.
—Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for chapel 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chapel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near chapel
Cite this Entry
“Chapel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chapel. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
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chapel
noun
Middle English chapel "chapel," from early French chapele (same meaning), from Latin cappella "chapel," literally, "little cloak," from cappa "cloak, head covering"; so called from the structure built to house a revered cloak of Saint Martin of Tours — related to cape entry 2, chaperone
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