Funeral
/ˈfjuːnərəl/noun
A ceremony or service held for the burial or cremation of the dead.
Did you know?Funeral comes from Latin funus, meaning a corpse, death, or funeral rites, and the word was first used for the rites themselves before becoming the name of the ceremony.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dhuH-
“to smoke, burn”
Latin
Latin
funus
“death, corpse, funeral rites”
Late Latin
Latin
funerālis
“pertaining to funerals”
Old French
Old French
funerailles
“funeral rites, obsequies”
Middle English
English
funeral
“funeral rites or ceremony”
Modern English
English
funeral
“a ceremony for the dead”
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