cadaver

See also: Cadaver, cadáver, and cadàver

English

Etymology

Recorded since c.1500, borrowed from Latin cadāver.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kəˈdæv.ə(ɹ)/, /kəˈdɑːv.ə(ɹ)/, /kəˈdeɪ.və(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kəˈdævɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ca‧dav‧er

Noun

cadaver (plural cadavers or cadavera)

1. A dead body; especially the corpse of a human to be dissected.
   • 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

• See also Thesaurus:corpse, Thesaurus:body
• body
• corpse

Derived terms

• cadaveric
• cadaverine
• cadaverous
• cadaverize
• cadaverously
• cadaverousness
• cadaver dog

Related terms

• cadence

Translations

a dead body

• Afrikaans: kadawer
• Arabic: جثة‎ f (juṯṯa)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܫܠܕܐ‎ f (šəladdā), ܬܓܪܘܡܬܐ‎ f (taḡrūmtā), ܦܓܪܐ‎ m (paḡrā), ܩܘܫܪܐ‎ m (qušrā), ܓܘܫܕܐ‎ m (gušdā)

• Armenian: դիակ (hy) (diak), դի (hy) (di), աճյուն (hy) (ačyun)
• Aromanian: murtãciuni f, murtutsinã f
• Asturian: cadabre m, cadávere m
• Bengali: বিশীর্ণ দেহ (biśirn deh)
• Bulgarian: труп (bg) m (trup)
• Burmese: ရုပ်ကလာပ် (my) (rupka.lap)
• Catalan: cadàver (ca) m
• Cebuano: patay'ng lawas
• Cherokee: ᎤᎵᏬᏨᎯ (uliwotsvhi), ᎤᏴᎰᏒᎯ (uyvhosvhi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 屍體 (zh), 尸体 (zh) (shītǐ)

• Czech: mrtvola (cs) f
• Danish: kadaver (da)
• Dutch: kadaver (nl) n, karkas (nl) n, kreng (nl) n
• Esperanto: kadavro
• Estonian: laip (et), korjus (et)
• Faroese: ræ n, deyður kroppur m, lík n
• Finnish: ruumis (fi), kalmo (fi)
• French: cadavre (fr) m
• Galician: cadáver (gl) m
• Georgian: გვამი (gvami)
• German: Kadaver (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺 n (leik), 𐌽𐌰𐌿𐍃 m (naus)
• Greek: πτώμα (el) n (ptóma)

  Ancient: πτῶμα n (ptôma), νεκρός m (nekrós), (Epic) νέκυς m (nékus)

• Haitian Creole: kadav
• Hungarian: tetem (hu)
• Indonesian: kadaver (id)
• Italian: cadavere (it) m
• Japanese: 死体 (ja)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ekîb (ku)

• Kyrgyz: өлүгүн (ölügün)
• Latvian: līķis
• Lithuanian: lavonas m, negyvėlis m
• Macedonian: труп m (trup)
• Maori: tūpāpaku
• Norman: cadâvre m (Jersey)
• Northern Ohlone: sé̄lila
• Old English: līċ n
• Plautdietsch: Leich f
• Polish: zwłoki (pl)
• Portuguese: cadáver (pt) m
• Romanian: cadavru (ro) n
• Russian: труп (ru) m (trup), кадавр (ru) (kadavr)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ле̏ш

  Roman: lȅš (sh)

• Slovak: mŕtvola f
• Spanish: cadáver (es) m
• Swedish: lik (sv) n (of a human), kadaver (sv) n (of an animal)
• Tagalog: bangkay
• Thai: อาจารย์ใหญ่ (th) (aa-jaan-yài)
• Tok Pisin: daiman
• Turkish: kadavra (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎔𐎂𐎗 (pgr)
• Volapük: fun (vo), menafun
• West Frisian: skrinkellyk
• Xhosa: tshe

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Latin

Etymology

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

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kaˈdaː.u̯er/, [käˈd̪äːu̯ɛr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kaˈda.ver/, [käˈd̪äːver]

Noun

cadāver n (genitive cadāveris); third declension

1. corpse, cadaver, carcass

   Synonyms: corpus, fūnus, mors

Declension

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

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cadāver	cadāvera
Genitive	cadāveris	cadāverum
Dative	cadāverī	cadāveribus
Accusative	cadāver	cadāvera
Ablative	cadāvere	cadāveribus
Vocative	cadāver	cadāvera

Derived terms

• cadāverōsus (seemingly dead)

Descendants

• Asturian: cadávere, calabre, cadabre, cadarma
• Catalan: cadàver
• Padanian:
  • Romagnol: cadêvar
• English: cadaver
• French: cadavre
  • → Romanian: cadavru
  • →? Turkish: kadavra
• Galician: cadáver, cadavre
• Italian: cadavere
  • →? Turkish: kadavra
• Neapolitan: cadavere
• Portuguese: cadáver
• Spanish: cadáver

References

• “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.” [3]