lychgate

9.9

A roofed gateway at the entrance to a churchyard where people shelter a coffin before a funeral

noun
/ˈlɪkˌɡeɪt/

: puerta de lych

The procession paused beneath the lychgate before entering the churchyard.

Examples

Mourners gathered at the lychgate to await the arrival of the funeral party.
Many old English churches still have a lychgate at their entrance.
The old lychgate stood at the entrance of the churchyard.
Many lychgates can be found in rural England.
Mourners gathered at the lychgate to await the arrival of the funeral party.
The procession paused beneath the lychgate before entering the churchyard.
Many old English churches still have a lychgate at their entrance.

Synonyms

lichgate

vslychgate

9.9

A roofed gate at a churchyard where coffins rest during funerals

is the same meaning but spelled as an alternative traditional form

Surface Forms

lychgate singular

lychgates plural

Morphology

lychgate = lych + gate (opaque) = lych + gate

Although historically a transparent compound ('corpse' + 'gate'), the element 'lych' is archaic and unfamiliar to most learners, so the meaning is not derivable by an average B1 learner.

Etymology

Lychgate comes from an old English word lic meaning 'body' and gate meaning 'gate'. It was the roofed gate where a coffin or 'body' waited before a funeral, so today a lychgate is a covered entrance to a churchyard used to shelter coffins.