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pagoda definition

pa·goda (pə gō′də)

noun

in India and the Far East, a temple in the form of a pyramidal tower of several stories, usually an odd number, commonly built over a sacred relic or as a work of devotion

Etymology: Port pagode, prob. < Pers butkadah, house of idols < but, idol + kadah, house, dwelling, prob. infl. by Prakrit bhagodī, divine, holy < Sans bhagavatī, divine, deity

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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