Meanings
present singular third person cremates · participle present cremating · participle past cremated · past cremated
- transitiveTo incinerate a dead body (as an alternative to burial).
I want to be cremated when I die.
1 more example
“You didn’t bury Dad. You burned him.” “We cremated him, Benny. For humans, the word is cremated. And we chose to do that because that’s what they do in Japan.”
2021, Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness, Canongate Books (2022), page 422
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo burn something to ashes.
Origin
- Latincremātus
- Englishcremate
First attested in 1889; borrowed from Latin cremātus, perfect passive participle of cremō (“to burn to ashes; to cremate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian изпепелявам, изгарям
- изпепелявам (izpepeljavam)burn to ashes
- изгарям (izgarjam)incinerate a body
- кремирам (kremiram)incinerate a body
Catalan incinerar, incinerar
- incinerarburn to ashes
- incinerarincinerate a body
Chinese Mandarin 焚毀 /焚毁, 焚化
- 焚毀 /焚毁 (fénhuǐ)burn to ashes
- 焚化 (fénhuà)incinerate a body
Danish brænde, kremere
- brændeburn to ashes
- kremereincinerate a body
Dutch verassen, cremeren
- verassenburn to ashes
- cremerenincinerate a body
Esperanto kremacii
- kremaciiincinerate a body
Finnish polttaa tuhkaksi, krematoida
- polttaa tuhkaksiburn to ashes
- krematoidaincinerate a body
- polttohaudataincinerate a body
French incinérer, incinérer
- incinérerburn to ashes
- incinérerincinerate a body
- crématiserincinerate a body
German einäschern, kremieren
- einäschernburn to ashes
- kremierenincinerate a body
Hebrew שרף גווייה
- שרף גווייה (saráf gviyá)incinerate a body
Hindi दाह, अग्निदाह
- दाह (dāh)burn to ashes
- अग्निदाह (agnidāh)incinerate a body
Hungarian hamvaszt, elhamvaszt
- hamvasztburn to ashes
- elhamvasztburn to ashes
- elhamvasztincinerate a body
Irish créam
- créamincinerate a body
Italian cremare, incinerare
- cremareincinerate a body
- incinerareincinerate a body
Japanese 火葬する
- 火葬する (kasō-suru)incinerate a body
Latin cremō
- cremōburn to ashes
Māori whakapungarehu, tahu tūpāpaku
- whakapungarehuburn to ashes
- tahu tūpāpakuincinerate a body
- whakapungarehuincinerate a body
Norwegian Bokmål kremere
- kremereincinerate a body
Polish kremować, skremować
- kremowaćincinerate a body
- skremowaćincinerate a body
Portuguese cremar, cremar
- cremarburn to ashes
- cremarincinerate a body
Romanian incinera, incinera
- incineraburn to ashes
- incineraincinerate a body
Russian сжига́ть, сжечь
- сжига́ть (sžigátʹ)burn to ashes
- сжечь (sžečʹ)burn to ashes
- испепеля́ть (ispepeljátʹ)burn to ashes
- испепели́ть (ispepelítʹ)burn to ashes
- креми́ровать (kremírovatʹ)incinerate a body
Spanish incinerar, incinerar
- incinerarburn to ashes
- incinerarincinerate a body
Swedish bränna, kremera
- brännaburn to ashes
- kremeraincinerate a body
Thai เผา, ฌาปนกิจ
- เผา (pǎo)burn to ashes
- ฌาปนกิจ (chaa-bpà-ná-gìt)incinerate a body
- เผา (pǎo)incinerate a body
Turkish yakmak
- yakmakincinerate a body
Vietnamese hoả táng
- hoả tángincinerate a body
Welsh amlosgi
- amlosgiincinerate a body
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
cremate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cremate
“cremate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cremate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cremate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cremate.
Source: cremate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.