Meanings
nounmorgue (plural morgues)
plural morgues
- archaicA supercilious or haughty attitude; arrogance.
They being newcomers, free from the western morgue so soon caught by Oriental Europeans, were particularly civil to me, even wishing to mix me a strong draught; but I was not so fortunate with all on board.
1855, Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, Dover, published 1964, page 34 - A building or room where dead bodies are kept before their proper burial or cremation, (now) particularly in legal and law enforcement contexts.
- datedslangThe archive and background information division of a newspaper.
Librarian Talks of Newspaper Morgue
1921 July 2, Joseph F. Kwapil, Fourth Estate, page 51 more example
Shand: get down to the Record and the Trib. See what they've got on Elliot in their morgues.
2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 109
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna building (or room) where dead bodies are kept before burial or cremation
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchmorgue
- Englishmorgue
Borrowed from French morgue. The second sense developed from the first, via "a prison examination room", probably with reference to the haughty attitude of the jailers.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans lykhuis, dodehuis
- lykhuisplace for dead people
- dodehuisplace for dead people
Arabic مَشْرَحَة
- مَشْرَحَة (mašraḥa)place for dead people
Bengali শবাগার
- শবাগার (śobagar)place for dead people
Bulgarian мо́рга
- мо́рга (mórga)place for dead people
Catalan dipòsit de cadàvers
- dipòsit de cadàversplace for dead people
Chinese Mandarin 停屍房 /停尸房, 太平間 /太平间
- 停屍房 /停尸房 (tíngshīfáng)place for dead people
- 太平間 /太平间 (tàipíngjiān)place for dead people
- 殮房 /殓房 (liànfáng)place for dead people
Czech márnice
- márniceplace for dead people
Danish ligkapel, lighus
- ligkapelplace for dead people
- lighusplace for dead people
Dutch lijkenhuis, mortuarium
- lijkenhuisplace for dead people
- mortuariumplace for dead people
Esperanto kadavrejo
- kadavrejoplace for dead people
Estonian surnukuur, surnukamber
- surnukuurplace for dead people
- surnukamberplace for dead people
- morgplace for dead people
Finnish ruumishuone
- ruumishuoneplace for dead people
French morgue
- morgueplace for dead people
German Leichenhaus, Leichenschauhaus
- Leichenhausplace for dead people
- Leichenschauhausplace for dead people
- Leichenhalleplace for dead people
Greek νεκροθάλαμος, νεκροφυλακείο
- νεκροθάλαμος (nekrothálamos)place for dead people
- νεκροφυλακείο (nekrofylakeío)place for dead people
- νεκροτομείο (nekrotomeío)place for dead people
Hebrew חֲדַר מֵתִים
- חֲדַר מֵתִים (khadár metím)place for dead people
Hindi मुर्दाघर, शवगृह
- मुर्दाघर (murdāghar)place for dead people
- शवगृह (śavgŕh)place for dead people
Hungarian hullaház, halottasház
- hullaházplace for dead people
- halottasházplace for dead people
Icelandic líkhús
- líkhúsplace for dead people
Indonesian rumah mayat, kamar mayat
- rumah mayatplace for dead people
- kamar mayatplace for dead people
Irish marbhlann
- marbhlannplace for dead people
Italian obitorio, camera mortuaria
- obitorioplace for dead people
- camera mortuariaplace for dead people
Japanese 霊安所, 遺体安置所
- 霊安所 (reianjo)place for dead people
- 遺体安置所 (itai anchisho)place for dead people
- 霊安室 (reianshitsu)place for dead people
- 死体置き場 (shitaiokiba)place for dead people
- モルグ (morugu)place for dead people
- 死体安置所 (shitai anchijo)place for dead people
Korean 영안실, 시체공시소
- 영안실 (yeong'ansil)place for dead people
- 시체공시소 (sichegongsiso)place for dead people
Latin mortuārium
- mortuāriumplace for dead people
Latvian morgs
- morgsplace for dead people
Lithuanian lavoninė, morgas
- lavoninėplace for dead people
- morgasplace for dead people
Malay rumah mayat
- rumah mayatplace for dead people
Māori whare tūpāpaku
- whare tūpāpakuplace for dead people
Norwegian Bokmål likhus
- likhusplace for dead people
Persian مُردِهشویخانِه, مُردِهخانِه
- مُردِهشویخانِه (morde-šuy-xâne)place for dead people
- مُردِهخانِه (morde-xâne)place for dead people
- سَردخانِه (sardxâne)place for dead people
Polish kostnica
- kostnicaplace for dead people
Portuguese necrotério, morgue
- necrotérioplace for dead people
- morgueplace for dead people
Romanian morgă, cameră mortuară
- morgăplace for dead people
- cameră mortuarăplace for dead people
Russian морг, поко́йницкая
- морг (morg)place for dead people
- поко́йницкая (pokójnickaja)place for dead people
- мертве́цкая (mertvéckaja)place for dead people
Slovak márnica
- márnicaplace for dead people
Spanish morgue, depósito de cadáveres
- morgueplace for dead people
- depósito de cadáveresplace for dead people
Swahili mochari, chumba cha maiti
- mochariplace for dead people
- chumba cha maitiplace for dead people
Swedish bårhus
- bårhusplace for dead people
Tagalog morge
- morgeplace for dead people
Thai โรงเก็บศพ, ห้องดับจิต
- โรงเก็บศพ (roong-gèp-sòp)place for dead people
- ห้องดับจิต (hɔ̂ng-dàp-jìt)place for dead people
Turkish morg, ölühane
- morgplace for dead people
- ölühaneplace for dead people
Ukrainian морг, покі́йницька
- морг (morh)place for dead people
- покі́йницька (pokíjnycʹka)place for dead people
- мертве́цька (mertvécʹka)place for dead people
- трупа́рня (trupárnja)place for dead people
Urdu مُردَہ خانَہ
- مُردَہ خانَہ (murdā xānā)place for dead people
Vietnamese nhà xác
- nhà xácplace for dead people
Welsh marwdy, madrodd
- marwdyplace for dead people
- madroddplace for dead people
Yiddish מאָרג
- מאָרג (morg)place for dead people
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with morgue
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
morgue. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morgue
MLA
“morgue.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morgue. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “morgue,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morgue.
Source: morgue on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.