exequy

E1X8E1Q10U1Y4
/ˈɛksɪkwi/

noun

Funeral rites.

Scrabble 25

Meanings

nounexequy (plural exequies)

plural exequies · alternative exsequy

  1. obsoletepluralFuneral rites.

    Exequies of Saul obſerued with mourning weeping and faſting.

    1609, Douay–Rheims Bible, Old Testament, volume I (1635 reprint), “The Second Book of Samuel, which we cal the Second of Kings.”, chapter i, marginal note b, page 573
    4 more examples

    But yet, before we go, let’s not forget The noble Duke of Bedford late deceased, But see his exequies fulfill’d in Rouen:

    1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

    EDWARD. Whether goes my Lord of Couentrie so fast? BISHOP. To celebrate your fathers exequies,

    1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page)

    More ſerious conjectures finde ſome examples of ſepulture in Elephants, Cranes, the Sepulchrall Cells of Piſmires and practice of Bees; which civill ſociety carrieth out their dead, and hath exequies, if not interrments.

    1658, Thomas Browne, “Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall. […]. Chapter I”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 1

    We were accelerating along the Perth Road at a speed much faster than is normally associated with exequies.

    2000, Kate Atkinson, Emotionally Weird, Black Swan (2001), page 191

Origin

  1. Latinexsequiās
  2. Old Frenchexequies
  3. Middle Englishexequies
  4. Englishexequy

A back-formation from exequies, from Middle English exequies, from Old French exequies, from Latin exsequiās, accusative of exsequiae (“a funeral, seeing-off procession”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

exequy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exequy

MLA

“exequy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exequy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “exequy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exequy.

Source: exequy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.