Standard Lemma guide

thanatology

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /θan.əˈtɒl.əd͡ʒ.i/
  • General-American: /ˌθæ.nəˈtɑl.əd͡ʒ.i/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɒlədʒi
  • CMU ARPABET: TH AE0 N AH0 T AO1 L AH0 JH IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The scientific study of death and the practices associated with it, including the study of the needs of the terminally ill and their families.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • Meronym: mortuary science

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the branch of science that studies death (especially its social and psychological aspects)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: science, scientific discipline

History

Etymology

From thanato- + -logy, from Ancient Greek θάνατος (thánatos, “death”).

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: танаталогія (tanatalóhija) — scientific study of death
  • Chinese Mandarin: 死亡學 /死亡学 (sǐwángxué) — scientific study of death
  • Czech: thanatologie — scientific study of death
  • Estonian: tanatoloogia — scientific study of death
  • Finnish: tanatologia — scientific study of death
  • French: thanatologie — scientific study of death
  • German: Sterbensforschung — scientific study of death
  • Gujarati: મૃત્યુવિજ્ઞાન (mŕtyuvijñān) — scientific study of death
  • Hindi: मृत्युविज्ञान (mŕtyuvijñān) — scientific study of death
  • Hungarian: haláltan — scientific study of death
  • Icelandic: dauðafræði — scientific study of death
  • Irish: báseolaíocht — scientific study of death
  • Italian: tanatologia — scientific study of death
  • Japanese: 死生学 (shiseigaku) — scientific study of death
  • Kazakh: танатология (tanatologiä) — scientific study of death
  • Korean: 사망학 (samanghak) — scientific study of death
  • Malay: kaji kematian — scientific study of death
  • Malay: tanatologi — scientific study of death
  • Marathi: मृत्युविज्ञान (mŕtyuvijñān) — scientific study of death
  • Persian: مرگشناسی (margšenāsī) — scientific study of death
  • Polish: tanatologia — scientific study of death
  • Portuguese: tanatologia — scientific study of death
  • Russian: танатология (tanatologija) — scientific study of death
  • Slovak: tanatológia — scientific study of death
  • Spanish: tanatología — scientific study of death
  • Swedish: thanatologi — scientific study of death
  • Tamil: மரணவியல் (maraṇaviyal) — scientific study of death
  • Turkish: tanatoloji — scientific study of death
  • Vietnamese: tử vong học — scientific study of death