Meaning & use
canopic jar
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A container used in ancient Egypt to hold the internal organs of a dead person.
Grammar: Countable: one jar, two jars. Often used in the plural because sets of four were common.
Patterns
- a set of canopic jars
- the canopic jar of something
The museum displayed four canopic jars from a royal tomb.
Each canopic jar had a lid shaped like a different animal head.
Archaeologists found a canopic jar buried beside the coffin.
Word forms
| plural | canopic jars |
|---|
Common combinations
- a set of canopic jars
- A complete set of canopic jars is rare in private collections.
- canopic jar lid
- The canopic jar lid showed the face of a jackal.
- ancient Egyptian canopic jar
- The ancient Egyptian canopic jar was carved from limestone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- funerary jar
- A broader term for any jar used in burials, not only the Egyptian type.
Word family
- Canopic adjective
- Relating to this type of jar or to the ancient Egyptian town of Canopus.
Commonly confused: canopic jar or canopic?
canopic jar vs canopic
Canopic is the adjective; canopic jar is the noun phrase. You would say 'a canopic jar', not 'a canopic'.
Practice
In ancient Egypt, a canopic jar was used to store ______.
Choose one answer.
Canopic jars held organs removed during mummification. Wine jars, jewelry boxes, and papyrus scrolls were different objects, so those options do not match the definition.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “canopic jar”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.