Catafalque Definition

kătə-fălk, -fôlk
noun
A wooden framework, usually draped, on which the body in a coffin lies in state during an elaborate funeral.
Webster's New World
A coffinlike structure used to represent the dead at a requiem Mass after the actual burial.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Catafalque

Noun

Singular:
catafalque
Plural:
catafalques

Origin of Catafalque

  • Borrowing from French catafalque, from Italian catafalco, from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum, from Ancient Greek κατά (kata, “down”) + Latin fala (“scaffolding, wooden siege tower”), which is from Etruscan. Also influenced scaffold.

    From Wiktionary

  • French from Italian catafalco

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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