template

Etymology

Earlier templet, it is probably from English temple + -et, from temple, a device on a loom that keeps the cloth stretched,^[2][3][4][5] though the revised OED (2023) calls the origin uncertain.^[2] Etymonline, Barnhart, the American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster derive it from French templet (“weaver's stretcher”), a diminutive of temple with the same meaning;^[6][7][8][9] the OED records the French templet from 1765, apparently as a rare word.^[2] The French temple of the loom is Old French temple (“rod for stretching cloth in weaving”) (1281), from Latin templum (“plank, rafter, purlin”), a special use of templum, a temple.^[2][6][7] The ending changed in the 19th century by association with plate;^{[7][6][4][5][10]} the OED adds that the suffix may also have been remodelled after -ate.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pattern or guide for shaping a piece of work: 1540, in the accounts of the Controller of Calais.^[2] Etymonline, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster begin instead with templet, a horizontal piece of timber under a girder or beam, in 1677;^[6][7][9] the OED dates this building sense to 1700.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart and Etymonline date the sense "pattern or gauge" to 1819, in masonry, and note an earlier use of temple in this sense in the 1680s.^[7][6] The spelling template is first recorded in 1844 according to Barnhart, and the OED finds it rare before the 18th century; in the 19th century it became the usual form for the pattern sense, while templet kept mainly to the building sense.^[7][2] The pronunciation did not follow the new spelling until recently: the Century Dictionary of 1895 still entered the word under templet.^[6][7] New technical senses followed: a perforated plate for marking rivet holes (1841), a molecule that serves as a pattern for building others (1904 in the OED, 1949 in Barnhart), a plastic or paper overlay (1912), any model to copy (1954) and, in computing, a preset format for a document or file (1976).^[2][7] The verb, in biochemistry, is recorded from 1942.^[2]

Timeline

• 1540 – a pattern or guide for shaping work.^[2]
• 1677 – templet, a timber under a beam.^[7][6][9]
• 1819 – a pattern or gauge in masonry.^[7][6]
• 1841 – a plate perforated as a guide for drilling holes.^[2]
• 1844 – the spelling template.^[7]
• 1904 – a molecular pattern.^[2]
• 1942 – verb, to make a molecule from a template.^[2]
• 1954 – a model for others to copy.^[2]
• 1976 – computing, a preset format for a document.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A pattern or gauge, cut from wood, metal, card or plastic, used as a guide to shape or reproduce something accurately.
2. (computing) A preset format for a document, file or web page, used as a starting point: She used the company template for her report.
3. Something that serves as a model for others to copy.
4. (biochemistry) A molecule whose structure serves as a pattern for making another.
5. (building) A short beam of metal, wood or stone placed in a wall to spread the load of a girder, as over a doorway.

Verb

1. To mark out the pattern or position of something with a template.
2. (biochemistry) To make a molecule using another as a template.

Related words

• temple
• templet
• plate

Usage notes

Collins and Merriam-Webster still give templet as a less common spelling.^[11][9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins