funeral
fu·ne·ral/ˈfju.nəɹ.əl/noun, adjective
funeral is spelled F-U-N-E-R-A-L: 7 letters and 3 syllables (fu·ne·ral). It appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,814th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, funeral means “A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person, often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of funeral is funerals.
How many letters and syllables are in funeral?
| Letters | 7: F-U-N-E-R-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: fu·ne·ral |
| In writing | 23 times per million words; the 3,814th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is funeral?
Funeral appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,814th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce funeral?
- UK /ˈfjuː.nə.ɹəl/
- UK /ˈfjuːn.ɹəl/
- US /ˈfju.nəɹ.əl/
Funeral has 3 syllables, split fu·ne·ral in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-funeral.wav, En-us-funeral.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with funeral
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: funereal.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of funeral
- funerals plural
- more funeral comparative
- most funeral superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does funeral mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person, often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased.
Many mourners turned up at the local artist's funeral to pay homage.
- 2
datedA funeral sermon.
adjective
- 1
Alternative spelling of funereal.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Funeral in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense ceremony to honour a deceased person:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | funérailles, obsèques |
| German | Bestattung, Beerdigung, Begräbnis |
| Portuguese | funeral |
| Spanish | funeral |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does funeral come from?
Borrowed from Middle French funerailles pl (“funeral rites”), from Medieval Latin fūnerālia (“funeral rites”), originally neuter plural of Late Latin fūnerālis (“having to do with a funeral”), from Latin fūnus (“funeral, death, corpse”), origin unknown, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“to die”). Singular and plural used interchangeably in English until circa 1700. The adjective funereal is first attested 1725, by influence of Middle French funerail, from Latin funereus, from funus. First attested in 1437.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).