Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “corpse” come from?

Corpse comes from Old French cors, from Latin corpus meaning "body," which developed the sense of a dead body in medieval usage.

corpse (English): A dead body; A human body in general, whether...

Definitions

  1. A dead body; A human body in general, whether...

Ancestry of “corpse”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishcorseA body; A dead body, a corpse
2Middle Englishcors—
3Old Frenchcorsbody

Words derived from “corpse”

  • corpselike
  • corpsy
  • corpsehood
  • corpsepaint
  • corpser
  • corpsefucker
  • corpse-to-be
  • uncorpselike
Every word from Old French cors →