coffin
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coffin¹
- /ˈkɒfɪn/ UK
- /ˈkɔfɪn/ US
- /ˈkɑfɪn/ cot caught merger
Sounds like coughing (with g-dropping) · Rhymes with -ɒfɪn, -ɒfən
Where it comes from
From Middle English coffyn, from Old Northern French cofin (“sarcophagus", earlier "basket, coffer”), from Latin cophinus (“basket”), a loanword from Ancient Greek κόφινος (kóphinos, “a basket”). Doublet of coffer. Displaced native Old English þrūh.
noun coffins · cophin · coffyn
-
A closed box in which the body of a dead person is placed for burial.
[…] Passing the apple-tree blows of white and pink in the orchards, / Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave, / Night and day journeys a coffin.
Similar: casket, pine box, wooden coat, wooden kimono, wooden overcoat, wooden surtout
- The eighth Lenormand card.
- A casing or crust, or a mold, of pastry, as for a pie. Of the paste a coffin I will rear.
- A conical paper bag, used by grocers. The smoke of this Hearbe, which they receaue at the mouth through certaine coffins, suche as the Grocers do vse to put in their Spices.
- The hollow crust or hoof of a horse's foot, below the coronet, in which is the coffin bone.
- A storage container for nuclear waste.
- A combination fence obstacle where the horse jumps a set of rails, strides downhill to a ditch, and then goes back uphill to another jump.
verb coffins · coffining · coffined · cophin · coffyn
-
To place in a coffin.
Indians do not hinder the progress of their dead by embalming or tight coffining.
Similar: encoffin
coffin²
- /ˈkɒfɪn/ UK
- /ˈkɔfɪn/ US
- /ˈkɑfɪn/ cot caught merger
Sounds like coughing (with g-dropping) · Rhymes with -ɒfɪn, -ɒfən
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Cornish koghyn (“exploratory mining trench”), with spelling likely influenced by etymology 1.
noun coffins · coffan · coffen · goffin · goffan · goffen
- An exploratory trench used when first digging a mine.
- A deep ditch.
Coffin³
proper noun Coffins · Coffing
- A surname. Mike Coffin, from the University of Tasmania, has made the journey to the surrounding waters seven times to conduct scientific research, and is sceptical about the existence of major exports from the island to the US.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: casket, grave, burial, box, depot, lowry, beer, highness, destruction, coin, fir, siris, sarcophagus, bier, burial case, grave box
Translations
Every language
noun box in which a dead person is buried
| Español | ataúd, féretro, cajón, urna, caja mortuoria |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 관 gwan |
| 日本語 | 棺 hitsugi, 棺桶 kan'oke |
| 中文 | 棺材, 棺 guān |
| हिन्दी | ताबूत tābūt |
| Kiswahili | jeneza |
| Português | caixão, ataúde |
| Français | cercueil |
| Deutsch | Sarg |
| Italiano | bara, cassa da morto, feretro |
| Ελληνικά | φέρετρο féretro |
| Română | sicriu, coșciug |
| Русский | гроб grob, домови́на domovína |
| Tiếng Việt | quan tài, hòm, săng |
| العربية | تَابُوت tābūt |
| עברית | אָרון arón, גְּלוֹסְקֵמָה gloskemá |
verb place in a coffin
| 日本語 | 納棺 nōkan |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 把……放入棺材 bǎ... fàngrù guāncai |
| Português | encaixotar |
| Deutsch | einsargen |
Talk about this word "coffin." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/coffin. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. coffin. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/coffin "coffin." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/coffin.Cite this
@misc{coffin_2026,
title = {coffin},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/coffin},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
