Meaning

noun a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church

noun an assemblage of people or animals or things collected together

noun the act of congregating

originFrom Middle English congregacioun, from Old French congregacion, from Latin congregātiō, itself from congregō (“to herd into a flock”). Adopted (1520s) by the English Bible translator William Tyndale, to render the Ancient Greek ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía, “those called together, (popular) meeting”) (hence Latin ecclēsia) in his New Testament, and preferred by 16th century Reformers instead of church. By…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0