# obituary

> English word · Noun · IPA /əˈbɪt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹi/ · frequency rank #16,983

## Definitions
1. A brief notice of a person's death, especially one published in a newspaper or other publication; also (obsolete), the section of a newspaper where notices of deaths are published.
2. A brief biography of a person (especially one who is well-known) who has recently died, usually describing their life and achievements, particularly in the form of an article in a news publication or an item in a news broadcast.
3. An announcement or description of the end of something.
4. A register of deaths, especially one maintained by a religious institution; a necrology.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *h₁epi
Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin obituārius (“obituary”) + English -ary (suffix denoting something relating to another thing or used in a place). Obituārius is derived from Latin obitus (“act of approaching or going toward, an approach; act of going down, setting; of the sun: sunset; death; destruction, downfall, ruin”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns); while obitus is a noun use of the perfect passive participle of obeō (“to go to meet, go towards; (figurative) to die, pass away, perish; (astronomy) to set”), from ob- (prefix meaning ‘toward’) + eō (“to go, move”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”).

## Common misspellings (11)
`boituary`, `obbituary`, `obitaury`, `obittuary`, `obituarry`, `obituaryy`, `obituayr`, `obituray`, `obiutary`, `obtiuary`, `oibtuary`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/obituary