Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sleep with one's fathers

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.88 in modern English

Syllables: sleep- with- one's -fa-thers
IPA

34

Scrabble Score

20

Letters

5

Syllables

13

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To be buried together with one's forebears; hence, to die; also, to be dead.

Dated; Literary; Obsolete

Etymology

Calque of Biblical Hebrew וַיִּשְׁכַּב עִם־אֲבֹתָיו (wayyiškaḇ ʿim-ʾăḇōṯâw, literally “he slept with his fathers”) (found, for example, in the Bible at 1 Kings 2:10); compare be gathered to one's fathers.

Usage

Inflected Forms

sleeps with one's fathers (present, singular) sleeping with one's fathers (participle, present) slept with one's fathers (participle, past) slept with one's fathers (past)

Questions

What does sleep with one's fathers mean?: To be buried together with one's forebears; hence, to die; also, to be dead.
Where does sleep with one's fathers come from?: Calque of Biblical Hebrew וַיִּשְׁכַּב עִם־אֲבֹתָיו (wayyiškaḇ ʿim-ʾăḇōṯâw, literally “he slept with his fathers”) (found, for example, in the Bible at 1 Kings 2:10); compare be gathered to one's fathers.

How to pronounce sleep with one's fathers

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