pagoda
an Indian or Far Eastern temple, esp a tower, usually pyramidal and having many storeys
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
Pagoda
A multistory shrine-like tower: originally a Buddhist monument crowned by a stupa. The stories may be open pavilions of wood with balconies and pent roofs of diminishing size with corbeled cornices.
Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
pagoda
A multistoried shrine-like tower, originally a Buddhist monument crowned by a stupa. Stories may be open pavilions of wood with balconies and pent roofs (prevalent in Japan) or built-in masonry, of diminishing size with corbeled cornices.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Pagoda
a type of Buddhist religious structure in the Far East. Repositories of Buddhist relics, pagodas serve as memorials and also mark “holy” places. Some are in the form of pavilions or towers (often many-tiered), and others are in the form of obelisks. Usually four-, six-, eight-, or 12-sided, they may be built of wood, brick, stone, or metal. The pagoda as a type of architecture developed during the early centuries of the Common Era in China and later spread to Vietnam, Korea, and Japan.
REFERENCE
Boerschmann, E. Die Baukunst und religiöse Kultur der Chinesen, vol. 3, part 1: Pagoden. [Berlin] 1931.The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.