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• coffin
  coffin

  noun

  the box or case in which the body of a dead person is placed for burial; casket.
• Coffin
  Coffin

  noun

  Levi, 1798–1877, U.S. abolitionist leader.

coffin

¹ American  

[kaw-fin, kof-in] / ˈkɔ fɪn, ˈkɒf ɪn /

noun

• coffins
  plural

1. the box or case in which the body of a dead person is placed for burial; casket.

2. the part of a horse's foot containing the coffin bone.

3. Printing.

   1. the bed of a platen press.

   2. the wooden frame around the bed of an early wooden press.

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verb (used with object)

1. to put or enclose in or as in a coffin.

Coffin ² American  

[kaw-fin, kof-in] / ˈkɔ fɪn, ˈkɒf ɪn /

noun

1. Levi, 1798–1877, U.S. abolitionist leader.

2. Robert P(eter) Tristram, 1892–1955, U.S. poet, essayist, and biographer.

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coffin British  

/ ˈkɒfɪn /

noun

1. a box in which a corpse is buried or cremated

2. the part of a horse's foot that contains the coffin bone

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verb

1. (tr) to place in or as in a coffin

2. engineering another name for flask

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• uncoffin
  verb (used with object)
• coffinless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• coffins
  plural

Etymology

Origin of coffin

1300–50; Middle English cofin < Old North French < Latin cophinus < Greek kóphinos a kind of basket

Explanation

The long wooden box in which a dead body is kept for burial or cremation is called a coffin. At a graveside funeral, you'll see the coffin lowered into a grave. Most coffins are made of wood, though they can also be steel, fiberglass, or bamboo. A coffin is generally thought of as the same thing as a casket, although some people distinguish between a six-sided coffin and a four-sided casket. The earliest meaning of coffin, from the 14th century, was "box for valuables," from the Latin cophinus, "basket or hamper," and the Greek root kophinos, "a basket."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

coffin Coffin coffins

Traveling with a coffin and a caged panther, Claire hasn’t come alone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

Inside the church, Mladić's coffin was guarded by several men, mainly war veterans, while his wife, son, and grandchildren stood inside receiving condolences.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

He nailed several boards together to create a makeshift coffin for the limb.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026

“You’re sleeping in a coffin for nine months. That would drive me crazy.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

The back doors of the hearse were opened and the coffin slid out.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

Coffin was especially interested in alluding to the work of special effects master Ray Harryhausen, who created the creepy hovering aircraft in 1956’s “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

The Minions also have trouble adapting, but Coffin demonstrates that by inserting them into the films of the 1940s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

Coffin, the co-creator and voice of the Minions, was born in France to Franco-Indonesian intellectuals who only turned on the TV for old movies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

At least in the background, Coffin reminds us that women also worked behind the scenes from the beginning.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Isabel Hussey and Louise Sharpe both turned out to be descendants of a member of the Coffin family on Nantucket Island.

From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett

The earliest burials were generally spaced apart from one another, and the bodies were placed inside coffins.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

Tributes on Chinese social media revived Zhu’s most quotable lines, including his vow that he had prepared “100 coffins, 99 for corrupt officials and one for myself.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Draped in Palestinian flags, the coffins were carried through streets filled with nationalist songs and chants.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Amid gasps and sobbing from the public gallery, prosecutor Steven Ball outlined the "chaotic" conditions inside the parlour, including how mould was seen on coffins and both excrement and bodily fluids on floors.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

It seems profane somehow—the world clean, the air warm—when scores of young men lay cold in their coffins, waiting to return to the earth.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

Related Words

• crate
• sarcophagus