tông miếu

Nhà vua đến tông miếu để tế lễ tổ tiên.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Ancestral temple: A temple or shrine dedicated to the worship of a royal family's or clan's ancestors, particularly in a historical Vietnamese or East Asian context. It is a place for performing rites and making offerings to deceased forebears.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Các vua chúa thường tổ chức lễ tế tại tông miếu. (Kings and lords often held ceremonial offerings at the ancestral temple.)
  • Tông miếu của dòng họ đó đã có hàng trăm năm lịch sử. (That clan's ancestral temple has hundreds of years of history.)

Advanced Usage

• The term "tông miếu" is a classical and formal word, primarily used in historical, literary, or ceremonial contexts rather than in everyday modern conversation.

Variants and Related Words

• Tôn miếu (n): A direct variant with identical meaning (ancestral temple).
• Nhà thờ họ (n): A more common modern term for a clan's or family's ancestral worship house.
• Đền thờ (n): A general term for a temple or shrine for worship.

Synonyms

• Ancestral shrine: A place for venerating ancestors.
• Lineage temple: A temple dedicated to a specific familial line.

Related Concepts

• Thờ cúng tổ tiên (ancestor worship): The practice of honoring ancestors, of which the tông miếu is a central physical location.
• Lễ tế (ceremonial offering): A ritual ceremony often performed at an ancestral temple.