originally, in Islāmic architecture, an open circular pavilion consisting of a roof supported by pillars. The word has been applied to a wide variety of architectural elements. The summer palaces of the sultans of Turkey were called kiosks. A type of early Persian mosque, having a domed central area, is known as the kiosk mosque.

In the United States the kiosk is often found in public parks, where it may function as a bandstand, and in private gardens, as a gazebo or summerhouse. The name is also applied to subway entrances, telephone booths, newsstands, information booths, public toilets, and (perhaps most familiar) the free-standing, solid, cylindrical structures upon which advertisements are posted in European cities.