mortuary

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

mortuary

/ˈmɔɹt͡ʃəˌwɛɹi/ US
/ˈmɔːt͡ʃʊəɹi/ UK
/ˈmɔːt͡ʃwəɹi/ UK

Where it comes from

From Middle English mortuary, from Anglo-Norman mortuarie (“gift to a parish priest from a deceased parishioner”), from Medieval Latin mortuārium (“receptacle for the dead; mortuary”), neuter form of mortuārius (“of or pertaining to the dead”), from Latin mortuus, perfect passive participle of morior (“to die”).

adjective

not comparable Of or relating to death or a funeral; funereal. The leftwise action aims at what drifts out of the nunka domain of the nefarious. Similarly for mortuary arrangements, what is leftwise is more momentous than what is rightwise.

noun mortuaries

A place where dead bodies are stored prior to burial or cremation; broadly, synonym of funeral home. It was anciently usual to bring the mortuary to church along with the corpse when it came to be buried
historical A sort of ecclesiastical heriot, a customary gift claimed by, and due to, the minister of a parish on the death of a parishioner.
Similar: soulscot

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: dead room, morgue, funerary, funeral, undertaker, deadhouse, burial, grave, memorial, coroner, dead, agency, haughtiness, funereal, sepulchral, feral

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"mortuary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/mortuary. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

mortuary. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/mortuary

Chicago

"mortuary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/mortuary.

BibTeX

@misc{mortuary_2026,
  title = {mortuary},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/mortuary},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}