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cadaver

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Cadaver, cadáver, and cadàver

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Middle English cadaver, from Latin cadāver.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /kəˈdæv.ə(ɹ)/[4], /kəˈdɑːv.ə(ɹ)/[1], /kəˈdeɪ.və(ɹ)/[1]
  • (US) IPA(key): /kəˈdævɚ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: ca‧dav‧er

Noun

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cadaver (plural cadavers or cadavera)

  1. (literary, medicine) A dead body; especially the corpse of a human to be dissected. [from late 14th c.][3]
    • 2020, Raven Leilani, Luster, Picador (2021), page 98:
      “Then my first year of med school, we got our first cadavers, and there was so much data inside. You can be sure a patient will lie about how much they drink or how much they smoke, but with a cadaver, all the information is there.”

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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a dead body

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “cadaver, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “cadāver, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “cadaver (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  4. ^ “cadaver, n.”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

Latin

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Etymology

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From the Latin verb cadō (“I fall”), as a euphemism for dying, "the fallen one". This etymology is found as early as ca. 200 C.E. in the writings of Tertullian, who associated cadaver to cadendo:

  • c. 160 CE – c. 225 CE, Tertullian, De Resurrectione Carnis 18:
    Atque adeo caro est quae morte subruitur, ut exinde a cadendo cadaver enuntietur.
    Indeed, the flesh is that which is subsumed by death, and may thereafter be termed "cadaver."

A folk etymology derives cadaver syllabically from the Latin expression caro data vermibus (flesh given to worms). This etymology, more popular in Romance countries, can be traced back as early as the Schoolmen of the Middle Ages.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cadāver n (genitive cadāveris); third declension

  1. corpse, cadaver, carcass
    Synonyms: corpus, fūnus, mors, caedēs

Declension

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Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

singular plural
nominative cadāver cadāvera
genitive cadāveris cadāverum
dative cadāverī cadāveribus
accusative cadāver cadāvera
ablative cadāvere cadāveribus
vocative cadāver cadāvera

Derived terms

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Descendants

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References

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  • “cadaver”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “cadaver”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • cadaver in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • “cadaver”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “cadaver”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
  • Tertullian. On the Resurrection of the Flesh. Chapter 18.
    Quote: “So that it is the flesh which falls by death; and accordingly it derives its name, cadaver, from cadendo.” [1]
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