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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

funeral.

A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person, often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased.

7 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈfjuː.nə.ɹəl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfjuːn.ɹəl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfju.nəɹ.əl/General-American[fjɪu̯.nɚəl]General-American
  1. A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person, often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased.

    Many mourners turned up at the local artist's funeral to pay homage.
  2. A funeral sermon.

    dated · in-plural
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Middle French funerailles pl (“funeral rites”), from Medieval Latin fūnerālia (“funeral rites”), originally neuter plural of Late Latin fūnerālis (“having to do with a funeral”), from Latin fūnus (“funeral, death, corpse”), origin unknown, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“to die”). Singular and plural used interchangeably in English until circa 1700. The adjective funereal is first attested 1725, by influence of Middle French funerail, from Latin funereus, from funus. First attested in 1437. Displaced native Old English līcþeġnung (literally “dead body service”).

adj/ˈfjuː.nə.ɹəl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfjuːn.ɹəl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfju.nəɹ.əl/General-American[fjɪu̯.nɚəl]General-American
  1. Alternative spelling of funereal.

    alt-of · alternative · not-comparable · uncommon · usually
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Middle French funerailles pl (“funeral rites”), from Medieval Latin fūnerālia (“funeral rites”), originally neuter plural of Late Latin fūnerālis (“having to do with a funeral”), from Latin fūnus (“funeral, death, corpse”), origin unknown, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“to die”). Singular and plural used interchangeably in English until circa 1700. The adjective funereal is first attested 1725, by influence of Middle French funerail, from Latin funereus, from funus. First attested in 1437. Displaced native Old English līcþeġnung (literally “dead body service”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.