jinja

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 神社 (じんじゃ, jinja), from Middle Chinese 神社, from Old Chinese 神社 (“sacrificial altar, shrine”), from 神 (*hlin, “deity, divine”) + 社 (*ɦljaːʔ, “Earth deity [and altar]”). Cognate with Mandarin 神社 (shénshè, “shrine”).

name

  1. A city and district at the north end of Lake Victoria, Uganda.“If cities ailed, Jinja had sleeping sickness. Idi Amin’s sudden expulsion of whites and Asians back in 1972 had hit the city harder than anywhere else. In just over a decade, Jinja’s status as the country’s largest industrial city had become questionable.”

noun

  1. A Shinto place of worship.