# urn

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɜːn/ · frequency rank #21,404

## Definitions
1. A vase with a footed base.
2. A metal vessel for serving tea or coffee.
3. A vessel for the ashes or cremains of a deceased person.
4. Any place of burial; the grave.
5. A measure of capacity for liquids, containing about three gallons and a half, wine measure. It was half the amphora, and four times the congius.
6. A hollow body shaped like an urn, in which the spores of mosses are contained; a spore case; a theca.

## Etymology
From Middle English urne, from Old French urne, from Latin urna (“vessel”). Doublet of urna.

## Easily confused with
- **us** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-us)
- **UT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-ut)
- **UV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-uv)
- **UW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-uw)
- **UU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-uu)
- **use** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-use)
- **USA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-usa)
- **USB** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-usb)
- **USD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-usd)
- **USC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-usc)
- **UTC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-utc)
- **USS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-uss)
- **UST** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-ust)
- **UVA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-uva)
- **ute** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-ute)
- **utd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-utd)
- **uzi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-uzi)
- **USP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-usp)
- **urs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-urs)
- **USO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urn-vs-uso)

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