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Glite Dictionary
cinerarium

cinerarium

9.9
A small space in a tomb for keeping an urn with a person's ashes
  • noun
  • /sɪnˈɛrəriəm/
translation icon : cinerario
  • After the ceremony, the urn was placed in a cinerarium within the family mausoleum.

Examples

  • Each cinerarium in the columbarium bore the names of multiple family members.

  • The ancient Romans often built elaborate cineraria to honor their dead.

  • The cinerarium is beautiful.

  • Look at the cinerarium!

  • After the ceremony, the urn was placed in a cinerarium within the family mausoleum.

  • Each cinerarium in the columbarium bore the names of multiple family members.

  • The ancient Romans often built elaborate cineraria to honor their dead.

Synonyms

columbarium
vscinerarium
1 9.9

A place with small spaces in the walls for holding urns with ashes

is a single niche or chamber rather than a building with many niches

Surface Forms

cinerarium singular
cineraria plural

Morphology

cinerarium = ciner + arium

Although the suffix '-arium' (place) appears in English, the root 'ciner-' is a Latin combining form for 'ashes' and is not recognizable to most learners, so the meaning cannot be reliably derived.

Etymology

Cinerarium comes from the Latin word cinis meaning 'ash', and it is related to English words like cinder and incinerate, which are about burning. So a cinerarium is a small chamber or niche for holding the ashes of a cremated person.