charnel
charnel · charnels
A chapel attached to a mortuaryA chapel attached to a mortuary.
Meaning
3 sensesA chapel attached to a mortuary.
A repository for dead bodies.
(historical)Part of a helm, now usually identified as the hinge (near the neck) by which the helm was secured to the breastplate.
More definitions
- a vault or building where corpses or bones are deposited
Origin
From Middle English charnel, from Old French charnel, carnel, from Late Latin carnāle (“grFrom Middle English charnel, from Old French charnel, carnel, from Late Latin carnāle (“graveyard”), from Latin carnālis, or possibly an alteration of Anglo-Norman charner, from Medieval Latin carnārium (“charnel”). Displaced Middle English fleshusse, from Old English flǣsċhūs.
From Old French charnel, from Latin cardinālis (“relating to a hinge”); related to French charnière.
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Forms
plural: charnelsSynonyms
1 synonymsClose in meaning
- a vault or building where corpses or bones are deposited:charnel house