mortician

American  

[mawr-tish-uhn] / mɔrˈtɪʃ ən /

noun

1. funeral director.

---

mortician British  

/ mɔːˈtɪʃən /

noun

1. another word for undertaker

---

Etymology

Origin of mortician

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95; mort(uary) + -ician

Explanation

Lots of kids want to grow up to be astronauts, firefighters, or doctors. Not too many want to be morticians, which makes sense: a mortician runs a funeral home. One of the saddest facts of life is that we all die, but that fact is a little less sad if you're a mortician — their business depends on death. Morticians — also called undertakers and funeral directors — do various jobs, such as planning a funeral, helping people pick a coffin, and preparing the body of the person who died. Morticians also need to be skilled at comforting, because they are constantly working with people who are sad and angry at the death of their family or friends.

Example Sentences

"We go from service to lifesaving to mortician, dealing with dead bodies and then doing crowd control," the 40-year-old says.

From BBC • Mar. 9, 2025

The once unidentified man was in jail accused of being a thief, and he was accidentally mummified by a mortician experimenting with new embalming techniques.

From Reuters • Oct. 7, 2023

The Washington Post reports that workers lifted a tarp for privacy as John Hill, who shared an ancestor with the general, helped a mortician gather the remains in a body bag.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 13, 2022

Caitlin Doughty, a mortician, advocate and author, says funeral directors haven’t done enough to address contemporary Americans’ wishes.

From Washington Post • Apr. 18, 2022

There was a group called mortician bees whose pitiful job it was to rake the dead bees out of the hive and keep everything on the clean side.

From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd