French word

cercueil

Pronunciation

IPA/sɛʁkœj/

Meaning

  • masculine nouncoffin

Example

La famille a veillé près du cercueil toute la nuit.

The family kept vigil beside the coffin all night.

Illustration for cercueil (coffin)

More examples

Les porteurs ont porté le cercueil jusqu'à la tombe.

The bearers carried the coffin to the grave.

Core concept

A closed wooden box holding a dead person's body, placed at the center of a funeral.

Common phrases

  • porter le cercueil

    carry the coffin

  • près du cercueil

    near the coffin

  • enterrer le cercueil

    bury the coffin

Similar words

enterrement: A ceremony in which a dead body is buried in the ground.
obsèques: Funeral services or ceremonies held for a deceased person.
décès: The death of a person.
urne: A container for holding cremated remains.

Definition in French

Boîte fermée, généralement en bois, conçue pour contenir le corps d'une personne décédée.

Word origin

French cercueil comes through Old French from Latin sarcophagus, borrowed from Greek sarkophagos for a stone coffin.

Usage tips

  • Cercueil is masculine, so the standard article is un cercueil and the plural is des cercueils.

Opposites

Word lists with this word