pagoda

What it means

1. HinduismobsoleteA Hindu temple.First known use 16th c.

   All your Religious Women who assist at the Performances of Pagod Ceremonies, are unexceptionably great Whores.

   1719, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg et al., translated by Jenkin Thomas Philipps, Thirty-Four Conferences between the Danish Missionaries and the Malabarian Bramans..., page 89

   1 more example

   This King of Calycut was a Bramene, as others his Predeceſſours alſo were, which amongſt the Malabars are Prieſts, and for that it is a cuſtome and anncient order obſerved, that all the Kings doe dye in one Pagode, which is the houſe of praiers to their Idolls...

   1582, Nicholas Lichefield translating Fernão Lopes de Castanheda as The Historie of the Discouerie and Conquest of the East Indias..., Vol. I, p. 34

2. HinduismuncommonBuddhismA tall building in an Indian, Burmese, or Thai style erected at Hindu or Buddhist temples in South and Southeast Asia, a stupa surmounted with a high point.
3. A multi-storey tower in a Chinese style used in various contexts across East Asia and Nepal, usually with upturned curving roofs above each storey.

   He declared he would ascend the highest pinnacle of the highest pagod in Japan.

   1769, Tobias Smollett, The History and Adventures of an Atom, volume II, page 170

   1 more example

   On the journey southwards over the flat, fertile plains, paddy fields stretched away on each side of the line, and the landscape was broken only by wooden villages and stately pagodas.

   1943 November and December, G. T. Porter, “The Lines Behind the Lines in Burma”, in Railway Magazine, page 325

In a sentence

This King of Calycut was a Bramene, as others his Predeceſſours alſo were, which amongſt the Malabars are Prieſts, and for that it is a cuſtome and anncient order obſerved, that all the Kings doe dye in one Pagode, which is the houſe of praiers to their Idolls...

1582, Nicholas Lichefield translating Fernão Lopes de Castanheda as The Historie of the Discouerie and Conquest of the East Indias..., Vol. I, p. 34

Where it comes from

1. Sanskritभगवती“Holy One, used for goddesses”
2. Tamilபகவதி“Durga, Parvati”
3. Malayalamപകോതി“Durga temple”
4. Portuguesepagode“Hindu temple, Hindu idol, pagoda coin”
5. Englishpagoda

From Portuguese pagode (“Hindu temple, Hindu idol, pagoda coin”), from any of various Dravidian languages' words of respectful address to Hindu gods and idols and their temples, including Malayalam പകോതി (pakōti, “Durga temple”), Kannada, and Tamil பகவதி (pakavati, “Durga, Parvati”), possibly corrupted under the influence of Portuguese pagão (“pagan”), all ultimately from Sanskrit भगवती (bhagavatī, “Holy One, used for goddesses”). Previously but mistakenly connected with various other languages from Persia to China.

First known use: 16th c.