obituary

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /əˈbɪt͡ʃəˌwɛɹi/ UK /əˈbɪt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹi/ See IPA manual

Freq #18973

Meanings

1

noun
An article in a newspaper about a person who has recently died, often describing their life.

I read his obituary in this morning's paper.
2

adj
Relating to notices of people who have died.

She works as the paper's obituary editor.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an article in a newspaper... obitnecrology

Word family

Forms obituaries

Derived forms obitobituarialobituarianobituarilyobituaristobituarize

Related forms necrographerobitalobitual

Etymology

PIE word *h₁epi Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin obituārius (“obituary”) + English -ary (suffix denoting something relating to another thing or used in a place). Obituārius is derived from Latin obitus (“act of approaching or going toward, an approach; act of going down, setting; of the sun: sunset; death; destruction, downfall, ruin”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns); while obitus is a noun use of the perfect passive participle of obeō (“to go to meet, go towards; (figurative) to die, pass away, perish; (astronomy) to set”), from ob- (prefix meaning ‘toward’) + eō (“…

*h₁ey- Proto-Indo-European obituārius la-med obitus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# obituary

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** /əˈbɪt͡ʃəˌwɛɹi/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈbɪt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹi/
**Frequency rank:** 18973

## Meanings
1. An article in a newspaper about a person who has recently died, often describing their life.
2. Relating to notices of people who have died.

## Examples
- I read his obituary in this morning's paper.
- She works as the paper's obituary editor.

## Derived Forms
- obit
- obituarial
- obituarian
- obituarily
- obituarist
- obituarize

## Related Forms
- necrographer
- obital
- obitual

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *h₁ey-
- Root: obituārius
- Root: obitus

## Etymology
PIE word *h₁epi Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin obituārius (“obituary”) + English -ary (suffix denoting something relating to another thing or used in a place). Obituārius is derived from Latin obitus (“act of approaching or going toward, an approach; act of going down, setting; of the sun: sunset; death; destruction, downfall, ruin”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns); while obitus is a noun use of the perfect passive participle of obeō (“to go to meet, go towards; (figurative) to die, pass away, perish; (astronomy) to set”), from ob- (prefix meaning ‘toward’) + eō (“…

## AI Etymology
Obituary is a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin obituārius (“obituary”) + English -ary (suffix denoting something relating to another thing or used in a place). The historical chain includes Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey-, la-med obituārius, and Latin obitus. Modern senses include an article in a newspaper about a person who has recently died, often describing their life and relating to notices of people who have died. The wider word family includes derivatives such as obit, obituarial, obituarian, obituarily, obituarist, and obituarize and related forms such as necrographer, obital, and obitual.

## Topics
- People & Society

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