undertaker

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʌndəˈteɪkə/

Noun

undertaker (plural undertakers)

1. A funeral director; someone whose business is to manage funerals, burials and cremations
2. (historical) a person receiving land in Ireland during the Elizabethan era, so named because they gave an undertaking to abide by several conditions regarding loyalty to the crown, marriage, and using English as their spoken language.

   In 1588 Edmund Spenser becomes an 'undertaker' in the first Elizabethan plantation, receiving the forfeited Irish estate of Kilcolman Castle.

Related terms

• undertake
• undertaking

Translations

funeral director

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (no exact term exists) 承辦殯葬者, 承办殡葬者 (chéngbàn bìnzàng zhě)

• Danish: bedemand (da) c
• Dutch: begrafenisondernemer (nl)
• Finnish: hautausurakoitsija (fi)
• French: croque-mort (fr) m and f
• German: Leichenbestatter (de) m, Beerdigungsunternehmer (de) m, Bestatter (de) m
• Greek: εργολάβος κηδειών (el) (ergolávos kideión) m and f
• Irish: adhlacóir (ga) m
• Italian: impresario di pompe funebri (it)

• Japanese: 葬儀屋 (ja) (そうぎや, sōgiya)
• Jèrriais: entrépranneux m
• Kurdish: gorrker, binaxker, definker
• Portuguese: agente funerário (pt) m
• Russian: директор похоронного бюро (ru) (diréktor poxorónnovo bjuró) m, гробовщик (ru) (grobovščík) m
• Swedish: begravningsentreprenör (sv) c
• Volapük: (male or female) funisepülan (vo), (male) funihisepülan (vo), (female) funijisepülan (vo)