cremate

English

Etymology

First attested in 1889; borrowed from Latin cremātus, perfect passive participle of cremō (“to burn to ashes; to cremate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹimeɪt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɹɪˈmeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /kɹəˈmeɪt/

Verb

cremate (third-person singular simple present cremates, present participle cremating, simple past and past participle cremated)

1. (transitive) To burn something to ashes.

   Synonyms: burn away, cinder; see also Thesaurus:incinerate

2. (transitive) To incinerate a dead body (as an alternative to burial).

   I want to be cremated when I die.

   • 2021, Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness, Canongate Books (2022), page 422:

     “You didn’t bury Dad. You burned him.”
     “We cremated him, Benny. For humans, the word is cremated. And we chose to do that because that’s what they do in Japan.”

Derived terms

• cremains
• cremator
• crematory
• incremate
• noncremated
• uncremated

Related terms

• cremation
• crematorium

Translations

burn to ashes

• Bulgarian: изпепелявам (bg) (izpepeljavam)
• Catalan: incinerar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 焚毀 / 焚毁 (fénhuǐ)

• Danish: brænde (da)
• Dutch: verassen (nl)
• Finnish: polttaa tuhkaksi
• French: incinérer (fr)
• German: einäschern (de)
• Hindi: दाह (hi) m (dāh)
• Hungarian: hamvaszt (hu), elhamvaszt (hu)
• Ido: kremacar (io)
• Latin: cremō
• Māori: whakapungarehu
• Portuguese: cremar (pt)
• Romanian: incinera (ro)
• Russian: сжига́ть (ru) impf (sžigátʹ), сжечь (ru) pf (sžečʹ), испепеля́ть (ru) impf (ispepeljátʹ), испепели́ть (ru) pf (ispepelítʹ)
• Spanish: incinerar (es)
• Swedish: bränna (sv)
• Thai: เผา (th) (pǎo)

incinerate a body

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: изгарям (bg) (izgarjam), кремирам (kremiram)
• Catalan: incinerar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 焚化 (zh) (fénhuà)

• Danish: kremere (da)
• Dutch: cremeren (nl)
• Esperanto: kremacii
• Finnish: krematoida (fi), polttohaudata (fi)
• French: incinérer (fr), crématiser (fr)
• German: kremieren (de)
• Hebrew: שרף גווייה (saráf gviyá)
• Hindi: अग्निदाह (hi) m (agnidāh)
• Hungarian: elhamvaszt (hu)
• Ido: kremacar (io)
• Irish: créam
• Italian: cremare (it), incinerare (it)
• Japanese: 火葬する (ja) (かそうする, kasō-suru)
• Khmer: បូជា (km) (bouciə), បូជាសព (bouciə sɑp)
• Māori: tahu tūpāpaku, whakapungarehu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kremere (no)

  Nynorsk: kremere (no), kremera

• Polish: kremować impf, skremować pf
• Portuguese: cremar (pt)
• Romanian: incinera (ro)
• Russian: креми́ровать (ru) impf or pf (kremírovatʹ)
• Spanish: incinerar (es)
• Swedish: kremera (sv)
• Thai: ฌาปนกิจ (th) (chaa-bpà-ná-gìt), เผา (th) (pǎo)
• Turkish: yakmak (tr)
• Vietnamese: hoả táng (vi)
• Welsh: amlosgi

Anagrams

• McAteer, ceramet, meercat

Italian

Verb

cremate

1. inflection of cremare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Anagrams

• camerte, certame

Latin

Verb

cremāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of cremō

Spanish

Verb

cremate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of cremar combined with te