English → Latin
“coffin” in Latin
arcachest, box, coffer, safe (safe place for storing items, or anything of a similar shape); coffin (box for the dead); ark sarcophagusflesh-devouring, carnivorous; a kind of limestone used for coffinsloculusA small place; coffin; manger, stallcapulussarcophagus; tomb; handle, hilt (of a sword)Iūstīnusa male given name, feminine equivalent Iūstīna, equivalent to Koine Greek Ἰουστῖνος (Ioustînos) or English Justin; Justi
The English word coffin itself goes back to Latin cophinus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
coffin
arca (general term, whether of wood, stone, etc.): sarcophagus (σαρκοφάγος, PROP., coffin made of the Assan stone, which came from Assos, in Troas, which consumed all the body but the teeth in 40 days, Dict. Antiq.; then coffin of any other material): loculus (for an embalmed corpse, or any part of it; Vid: Plin., 7, 2, 2, §20, and 7, 16, 16): capulus (Varr., op. Non.: ire ad capulum, Lucr.). A silver coffin, loculus argenteus (Justinus, 39, 1, 6): to put in a coffin, arca or loculo condere (e.g., in a temple, in templo).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for coffin?
- The usual Latin words for “coffin” are arca, sarcophagus, loculus; also capulus, Iūstīnus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.