sarcophagus
/sɑɹˈkɑfəɡəs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.79 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The cement and steel structure that encases the destroyed nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine.
Informal
noun
A type of wine cooler (“a piece of equipment used to keep wine chilled”) shaped like a sarcophagus (sense 1).
Example Sentences
- "[T]his (venter impiorum inſaturabilis [the insatiable belly of the wicked]) in foure & tvventie houres conſumes many carkaſſes of Fiſhes and Fovvles, and generally tvvice a day all the fleſh therein interred; ſo true a Sarcophagus is the belly: […]"
- "One meets vvith many other Figures of Meleager in the ancient Baſſo Relievo's, and on the Sides of the Sarcophagi, or Funeral Monuments."
- "This monument (made to ſtand upon the ground, but novv raiſed much above the eye on a heavy baſe projecting from the vvall) is a ſarcophagus vvith ribbed vvork and mouldings, ſomevvhat antique, placed on a baſement ſupporting pretty large Corinthian columns of alabaſter, vvhich uphold an entablature, and form a ſort of canopy over it."
- "The interior of the Taje exceeds the promise given by its external magnificence: on a platform in the centre of a circular hall, are the sarcophaguses of Shah Jehan, and his beloved empress [Mumtaz Mahal], enclosed within a carved screen of the most elaborate tracery and exquisite finish. These sarcophaguses, and the surrounding walls and screens, are covered with flowers and inscriptions of the most delicate mosaic work, in every variety of cornelian, agate, jasper, lapis lazuli, and other precious marbles."
- "On the lids of those Tombs; square sarcophaguses, in that silent dim-burning Hall, each with its Soul in torment; the lids open there; they are to be shut at the Day of Judgment, through Eternity."
- "On closer inspection the coffins seemed to be more like sarcophagi. They stood about waist high and were constructed of what appeared to be white marble, […]"
Etymology
The noun is borrowed from Latin sarcophagus (“grave; sarcophagus; flesh-eating, carnivorous”), from Ancient Greek σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος (sărkophắgos, “sarcophagus; flesh-eating, carnivorous”) (so named from λῐ́θος σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος (lĭ́thos sărkophắgos, literally “flesh-eating stone”) a type of limestone found at Assos in Troas (now Behramkale, Turkey) thought to consume the flesh of corpses, and thus used to make coffins), from σαρκός (sarkós) (the genitive form of σάρξ (sárx, “flesh; body”), from Proto-Indo-European *twerḱ- (“to carve; to cut off, trim”)) + -φάγος (-phágos, suffix meaning ‘eater (of); eating’) (from ἔφαγον (éphagon, “to devour, eat”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g- (“to allot, distribute; to divide”)). The plural form sarcophagi is borrowed from Latin sarcophagī. The verb is derived from the noun.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *twerḱ-, sarcophagus, σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος, *bʰeh₂g-, sarcophagī
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /sɑɹˈkɑfəɡəs/
- British English: /sɑːˈkɒfəɡəs/