Coffin

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒfɪn/

Definitions

1. A rectangular box made of wood or metal in which a dead body is placed for burial or cremation
2. A rigid rectangular container, typically wooden or metal, designed to enclose and protect a deceased person for interment or cremation
3. An oblong burial case constructed from durable materials used to contain a corpse prior to funeral services or final disposition

Etymology: The word for a burial box began life as a basket. Ancient Greek "kóphinos" meant a basket, and the Romans borrowed it as "cophinus" with the same sense. Basketwork containers of this kind were common for carrying and storing goods, and the idea of a container traveled through Old French, where "cofin" came to mean a basket or coffer before it was applied to the dead. The shift to burial came through the sense of "sarcophagus," the stone or wooden receptacle for a corpse, which Old French speakers used the word for. Middle English took up "coffyn" in this funerary sense, and it pushed out the native Old English term "þrūh," which had been the ordinary word for a coffin. The word has a twin in English. "Coffer," a strongbox or chest, comes from the same source through French, so the two words are doublets, one entering English directly from Old French and one arriving in a different form. A separate, unrelated-seeming origin exists for a Cornish word meaning an exploratory mining trench, which may have influenced the spelling.

Synonyms: casket, tomb, grave, burial case, receptacle