Urn Meaning
/ɜːn/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA vase with a footed base.
nounA metal vessel for serving tea or coffee.
Sentence Examples
Grandmother's ashes are in an urn at the temple.
The children broke the ancient urn.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the cremation ceremony, the remains were placed in a decorative ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ancient Greek ____ was decorated with beautiful illustrations showing several scenes from daily life today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English urne, from Old French urne, from Latin urna (“vessel”). Doublet of urna.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"A rustic, digging in the ground by Padua, […]found an urn, or earthen pot, in which there was another urn."
— 1648, John Wilkins, Mathematicall Magick. Or, The Wonders that may be Performed by Mechanicall Geometry. […], London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Sa[muel] Gellibrand […], →OCLC:
"His scattered limbs with my dead body burn, / And once more join us in the pious urn."
— 1700, [John] Dryden, “Canace to Macareus”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
"Mary Fibbs and all her friends start making coughing noises whenever I come near them, and then they all giggle and Mary says Grandfather mixes his cough medicine in the urns on top of the gate posts after dark with his umbrella, and now Jessamy!"
— 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 47:
"So draw him home to those that mourn
In vain; a favourable speed
Ruffle thy mirror’d mast, and lead
Thro’ prosperous floods his holy urn."
— 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto IX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
"Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn, / Tombless, with no remembrance over them."
— 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the cremation ceremony, the remains were placed in a decorative ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ancient Greek ____ was decorated with beautiful illustrations showing several scenes from daily life today.