Etymology

rigor mortis

Today it means: Temporary stiffness of the body's muscles and joints following death. Full definition →

New Latin rigor mortis
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The story

  1. New Latin · learned borrowing fromrigor mortis
  2. English todayrigor mortis

Learned borrowing from New Latin rigor mortis (literally “stiffness of death”). First attested in 1842.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.