Coffin Meaning
/ˈkɒfɪn/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA closed box in which the body of a dead person is placed for burial.
nounThe eighth Lenormand card.
Sentence Examples
He thought his piano would make a good coffin for him.
Until my coffin closes I will be your faithful spouse.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The carpenter measured the oak wood to build a sturdy ____ for the funeral.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The wooden ____ was respectfully carried to the cemetery by the close family members.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English coffyn, from Old Northern French cofin (“sarcophagus", earlier "basket, coffer”), from Latin cophinus (“basket”), a loanword from Ancient Greek κόφινος (kóphinos, “a basket”). Doublet of coffer. Displaced native Old English þrūh.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] Passing the apple-tree blows of white and pink in the orchards, / Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave, / Night and day journeys a coffin."
— 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:
"Plans to carry the Queen's coffin from Edinburgh to London by rail were scrapped in favour of travel in a Royal Air Force cargo aircraft."
— 2022 September 21, “Network News: Decision not to use Royal Train sharply divides opinion”, in RAIL, number 966, page 8:
"Of the paste a coffin I will rear."
— c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
"Take your mallard and put him into the iuyce of the sayde Onyons, and season him with pepper, and salte, cloues and mace, then put your Mallard into the coffin with the saide iuyce of the onyons."
— 1596, The Good Huswife's Jewell:
"The smoke of this Hearbe, which they receaue at the mouth through certaine coffins, suche as the Grocers do vse to put in their Spices."
— 1577, John Frampton, Joyful News out of the New Found World:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The carpenter measured the oak wood to build a sturdy ____ for the funeral.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The wooden ____ was respectfully carried to the cemetery by the close family members.