sarcophagus

American  

[sahr-kof-uh-guhs] / sɑrˈkɒf ə gəs /

noun

• sarcophagi,
  plural
• sarcophaguses
  plural

1. a stone coffin, especially one bearing sculpture, inscriptions, etc., often displayed as a monument.

2. Greek Antiquity. a kind of stone thought to consume the flesh of corpses, used for coffins.

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sarcophagus British  

/ sɑːˈkɒfəɡəs /

noun

1. a stone or marble coffin or tomb, esp one bearing sculpture or inscriptions

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sarcophagi
  plural
• sarcophaguses
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of sarcophagus

1595–1605; < Latin < Greek sarkophágos, noun use of the adj.; see sarcophagous

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Explanation

If you want to go out in style, buy yourself a sarcophagus — a very fancy coffin usually decorated with elaborate carvings. If King Tut could arrange it, so can you! Sarcophagus comes from the Greek word sarkophagos meaning "limestone used for coffins." But the Greek literally translates to mean "flesh-eating." Seems a bit gruesome, doesn't it? This translation makes sense when you figure that limestone was used in coffins because it quickly decomposed the body. These stone coffins are usually decorated with a sculpture or inscription and date back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Rome, and Greece.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sarcophagus sarcophagi sarcophaguses

He later helped build the first sarcophagus covering the reactor, as well as the second one, which was damaged by a Russian drone strike in 2025.

From Barron's ● Apr. 25, 2026

A concrete sarcophagus over reactor four was completed in just seven months after the accident.

From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2026

Inside the mind-blowing 2,000-year-old sarcophagus that was just unsealed.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 25, 2026

Then there’s the late-second-century marble sarcophagus made to house the remains of a husband and wife.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2025

Without a mummy and sarcophagus, there is no Great Tomb Project at all.

From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina

The Hunterian said excavators in the 19th century occasionally swapped over remains from different coffins, with better preserved specimens placed in the most intact or ornate sarcophagi.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

Excavations uncovered a funerary complex consisting of three limestone burial chambers containing Roman-era mummies and decorated wooden sarcophagi.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026

Among the bronze and marble objects are portraits, over-life-size figures, sarcophagi reliefs and animal sculptures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2025

They stumbled upon an astonishing and unexpected scene: bees that had been mummified in subterranean sarcophagi for nearly 3,000 years.

From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2023

Here in the shop only great sarcophagi were built, and blocks of stone roughhewn to size, ready for the sculptors.

From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

One of the two sarcophaguses was decorated with images of grapes and the other with dolphins said A'utul, whose organisation is supervising the work with help from French aid agency Premiere Urgance International.

From Reuters ● Jul. 24, 2023

Bedford, Duke of, carved sarcophaguses owned by, 231 n.

From Life of John Keats His Life and Poetry, his Friends, Critics and After-fame by Sidney Colvin

It reminds one of graves, and sarcophaguses, and cemeteries, and horrid things that rustle in coffin cloths, and mop and mow in corners.

From Portia or By Passions Rocked by Duchess

The general impression of the other marbles of the Capitoline Museum remains a composite of standing, sitting, stooping, and leaning figures, of urns and vases, of sarcophaguses and bas-reliefs.

From Roman Holidays, and Others by William Dean Howells

Hercules, triumphs of, figured on sarcophaguses, 231 & n.

From Life of John Keats His Life and Poetry, his Friends, Critics and After-fame by Sidney Colvin

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