Standard Lemma guide

ossuary

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈɒsjʊəɹi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A container, receptacle, or building, such as an urn or vault, for holding the bones of the dead.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: charnel house

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any receptacle for the burial of human bones

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: receptacle

History

Etymology

From Late Latin ossuārium (“charnel house”), from ossuārius (“of or for bones”), from compound of Latin os (“bone”) + adjectival suffix -ārius (“of, related to”).

Across languages

Translations

62 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ոսկրատուն (oskratun) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Armenian: ոսկրանոց (oskranocʻ) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Old Armenian: արկղ (arkł) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Basque: hezurtegi — a place where the dead are buried
  • Belarusian: асуа́рый (asuáryj) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Bulgarian: костница (kostnica) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Catalan: ossera — a place where the dead are buried
  • Catalan: ossari — a place where the dead are buried
  • Chinese Cantonese: 藏骨堂 (cong4 gwat1 tong4) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Chinese Mandarin: 骨穴 (gǔxué) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Chinese Mandarin: 藏古堂 (cánggǔtáng) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Chinese Mandarin: 骨罐 (gǔguàn) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Czech: kostnice — a place where the dead are buried
  • Dutch: ossuarium — a place where the dead are buried
  • Dutch: knekelhuis — a place where the dead are buried
  • Esperanto: ostejo — a place where the dead are buried
  • Finnish: ossuaari — a place where the dead are buried
  • Finnish: luuhuone — a place where the dead are buried
  • French: ossuaire — a place where the dead are buried
  • Friulian: ossari — a place where the dead are buried
  • German: Beinhaus — a place where the dead are buried
  • German: Ossarium — a place where the dead are buried
  • German: Karner — a place where the dead are buried
  • Greek: οστεοφυλάκιο (osteofylákio) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Hungarian: osszuárium — a place where the dead are buried
  • Icelandic: beinabúr — a place where the dead are buried
  • Icelandic: beinaklefi — a place where the dead are buried
  • Icelandic: beinahús — a place where the dead are buried
  • Indonesian: osuari — a place where the dead are buried
  • Italian: ossario — a place where the dead are buried
  • Japanese: 納骨堂 (nōkotsudō) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Japanese: 骨壷 (kotsutsubo) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Kapampangan: osuariu — a place where the dead are buried
  • Kapampangan: oswaryu — a place where the dead are buried
  • Kapampangan: balebutul — a place where the dead are buried
  • Korean: 봉안당 (bong'andang) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Korean: 납골당 (napgoldang) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Korean: 골당 (goldang) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Latin: ossuārium — a place where the dead are buried
  • Macedonian: косту́рница (kostúrnica) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Manx: shamyr chraueyn — a place where the dead are buried
  • Māori: toma — a place where the dead are buried
  • Classical Nahuatl: omicalli — a place where the dead are buried
  • Norwegian: ossuarium — a place where the dead are buried
  • Polish: ossarium — a place where the dead are buried
  • Polish: ossuarium — a place where the dead are buried
  • Portuguese: ossário — a place where the dead are buried
  • Portuguese: ossuário — a place where the dead are buried
  • Romanian: osuar — a place where the dead are buried
  • Russian: оссуа́рий (ossuárij) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Russian: ко́стница (kóstnica) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Serbo-Croatian: ко̀стӯрница — a place where the dead are buried
  • Serbo-Croatian: kòstūrnica — a place where the dead are buried
  • Slovak: karner — a place where the dead are buried
  • Slovak: kostnica — a place where the dead are buried
  • Slovene: kostnica — a place where the dead are buried
  • Spanish: osario — a place where the dead are buried
  • Swedish: ossuarium — a place where the dead are buried
  • Swedish: benhus — a place where the dead are buried
  • Swedish: benurna — a place where the dead are buried
  • Ukrainian: осуа́рій (osuárij) — a place where the dead are buried
  • Ukrainian: кістни́ця (kistnýcja) — a place where the dead are buried