charnel

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a place or repository where dead bodies or human bones are kept; a charnel house

   The ruined crypt had become a charnel filled with old bones.

2. 2
   adj

   associated with corpses, death, or the gruesome atmosphere of a burial place

   A charnel odor drifted from the long-sealed vault.

From Middle English charnel, through Old French from Late Latin carnale, 'graveyard,' or a related Medieval Latin carnarium, 'repository for flesh.' Both derive from Latin caro, carnis, 'flesh.' The noun named a burial chapel or store for bones, while the adjective extended its grim associations to anything suggestive of death.

Topics