What does inhume mean?
Inhume means to place a dead body in a grave or tomb, usually as part of a funeral or burial ceremony. It is especially associated with solemn, historical, or legal accounts of how people were laid to rest. The verb is precise but literary and comparatively uncommon: modern speakers will usually say “bury” or “inter” instead. Inhume has a ceremonial tone and can imply the formal rights and circumstances of a burial, whether or not those details are specified. Its counterparts “exhume” and “disinter” describe removing a body from its place of burial. The word also belongs to an interesting semantic family connected with the earth: it derives through French from Latin roots associated with burial in the ground. This makes inhume especially memorable as a formal word for one of humanity’s oldest and most universal acts.
verbTo place a dead body in a grave or tomb, especially with funeral rites. The word is chiefly formal, literary, or legal in use.
- To bury a dead body in a grave, tomb, or other place of interment, typically with funeral ceremonies.
"The remains were inhumed with full honours in a family crypt."
"Historians believe the king was inhumed beneath the church floor."
"The body was inhumed in a sealed wooden coffin."
Inhume belongs to a family of words rooted in the earth: humans were once described as earthly creatures, and humble, humane, and humiliate all share that ancient soil.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does inhume come from?
Inhume comes through French from Latin inhumare, formed from in- and humus, “earth.” The underlying word humus is also the source of English cognates including humane, humble, and humiliate. These words developed from Latin humanus and humilis, terms associated with the earth and what arises from it.
Related word forms
How inhume is actually used
This is a formal and relatively uncommon word, encountered especially in historical, ceremonial, or legal contexts. In everyday English, “bury” and “inter” are more usual.