A template is a pre-designed pattern or guide that you use to make copies of something with the same shape, format, or structure. It can be physical, like a stencil, or digital, like a document layout.
It comes from an altered form of 'templet', from French 'templet', a diminutive of 'temple' meaning 'small piece of wood used as a gauge'. The idea is of a model that other things are shaped around.
Templates are like shortcuts for structure—once you have one, you don’t have to reinvent the layout every time. Your brain uses mental templates too: when you meet a 'teacher' or 'doctor', you instantly pull up a rough template of how that role usually behaves.
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