Sarcophagus Definition

sär-kŏfə-gəs

sarcophagi, sarcophaguses

noun

Among the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, a limestone coffin or tomb, often inscribed and elaborately ornamented.

Webster's New World

Any stone coffin, esp. one on display, as in a monumental tomb.

Webster's New World

(informal) The cement and steel structure that encases the destroyed reactor at the power station in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Sarcophagus

Singular:

sarcophagus

Plural:

sarcophagi, sarcophaguses

From French sarcophage, from Latin sarcophagus, from Ancient Greek σαρκοφάγος (sarkophagos, “coffin of limestone", noun), so named from a supposed property of consuming the flesh of corpses laid in it, from σαρκοφάγος (sarkophagos, “flesh-eating, carnivorous"), from genitive σαρκός (sarkos) of σάρξ (sarks, “flesh, meat") + -φάγος (-phagos) (from ἔφαγον (ephagon), past of φαγεῖν (phagein, “to eat"))

From Wiktionary
Latin from Greek sarkophagos coffin from (lithos) sarkophagos limestone that consumed the flesh of corpses laid in it sarx sark- flesh -phagos -phagous

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

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