A container shaped like a cup with a lid, used to hold the Eucharist in Christian churches; also the canopy or pavilion over an altar.
From Latin 'ciborium,' from Greek 'kibōrion' (a cup-shaped object, or the canopy of an Egyptian shrine). The term evolved in ecclesiastical usage to describe both the vessel and architectural feature.
The ciborium's Greek origin traces back to Egyptian architecture—early Christians borrowed the word for a shrine-like structure, so your church's decorated cup holding communion wafers has a 3,000-year etymological journey.
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