Meaning & use
sarcophagus
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Meaning
nouncountable
A stone coffin, often decorated with carvings or writing, used especially in ancient times.
Grammar: Countable; the plural is sarcophagi /sɑːrˈkɑːfəɡaɪ/.
Patterns
- a stone sarcophagus
- an ancient sarcophagus
- the sarcophagus of a king
Archaeologists opened the sarcophagus and found a well-preserved mummy inside.
The museum's Egyptian room displays a large sarcophagus covered in hieroglyphs.
Roman sarcophagi were often carved with scenes from myths.
Word forms
| plural | sarcophagi |
|---|---|
| plural | sarcophaguses |
Common combinations
- stone sarcophagus
- A heavy stone sarcophagus stood in the center of the tomb.
- ancient sarcophagus
- The ancient sarcophagus was decorated with gold leaf.
- open a sarcophagus
- The team carefully opened the sarcophagus in front of the cameras.
- carved sarcophagus
- The carved sarcophagus showed scenes of the afterlife.
Synonyms and how they differ
- coffin
- A general word for any box for a dead body; a sarcophagus is specifically made of stone and often decorated.
- casket
- Often used for a decorated wooden or metal coffin, especially in American English; not usually made of stone.
- tomb
- A burial place or structure, which may contain a sarcophagus but is not the coffin itself.
Word family
- sarcophagal adjective
- Relating to a sarcophagus; rare.
Commonly confused: sarcophagus or sarcasm?
sarcophagus vs sarcasm
Sarcasm is mocking or ironic speech; a sarcophagus is a stone coffin. The words look similar but have unrelated meanings.
Practice
The plural of 'sarcophagus' is usually:
Choose one answer.
Sarcophagus comes from Greek, so its plural is sarcophagi. Sarcophaguses is sometimes used but is less common. Sarcophagae and sarcophagodes are not real forms.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sarcophagus”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.