morgue

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French morgue. The second sense developed from the first, via "a prison examination room", probably with reference to the haughty attitude of the jailers.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɔːɡ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /moɹɡ/, [mo̞ɹɡ]
• (without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /mɔː(ɹ)ɡ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)ɡ

Noun

morgue (plural morgues)

1. (archaic) A supercilious or haughty attitude; arrogance.
   • 1855, Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, Dover, published 1964, page 34:

     They being newcomers, free from the western morgue so soon caught by Oriental Europeans, were particularly civil to me, even wishing to mix me a strong draught; but I was not so fortunate with all on board.

2. A building or room where dead bodies are kept before their proper burial or cremation, (now) particularly in legal and law enforcement contexts.

   Coordinate terms: deadhouse, mortuary

3. (archaic) The archive and background information division of a newspaper.
   • 1921 July 2, Joseph F. Kwapil, Fourth Estate, page 5:

     Librarian Talks of Newspaper Morgue

   • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 109:

     Shand: get down to the Record and the Trib. See what they've got on Elliot in their morgues.

Translations

haughty attitude — see arrogance

place for dead people

• Afrikaans: lykhuis, dodehuis
• Albanian: morg m
• Arabic: مَشْرَحَة f (mašraḥa)
• Armenian: դիարան (hy) (diaran), դիահերձարան (hy) (diaherjaran)
• Azerbaijani: meyitxana (az), ölüxana, morq
• Belarusian: морг m (morh), мярцве́цкая f (mjarcvjéckaja) (dated), трупя́рня f (trupjárnja), пако́йніцкая f (pakójnickaja) (dated)
• Bengali: শবাগার (śobagar)
• Bulgarian: мо́рга f (mórga)
• Burmese: ရေခဲတိုက် (my) (rehkai:tuik), ရင်ခွဲရုံ (my) (ranghkwai:rum)
• Catalan: dipòsit de cadàvers m
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 死人厝 (sí-lâng-chhù)

  Mandarin: 停屍房／停尸房 (zh) (tíngshīfáng), 太平間／太平间 (zh) (tàipíngjiān), 殮房／殓房 (zh) (liànfáng)

• Czech: márnice (cs) f
• Danish: morgue c, lighus n
• Dutch: lijkenhuis (nl) n, mortuarium (nl) n
• Esperanto: kadavrejo
• Estonian: surnukuur, surnukamber, morg (et)
• Faroese: líkhús n
• Finnish: ruumishuone (fi)
• French: morgue (fr) f
• Galician: depósito de cadáveres (gl) m, depósito (gl) m
• Georgian: მორგი (morgi)
• German: Leichenhaus n, Leichenschauhaus (de) n, Leichenhalle (de) f
• Greek: νεκροθάλαμος (el) m (nekrothálamos) (building in which bodies are stored before burial), νεκροφυλακείο (el) n (nekrofylakeío) (building in which bodies are stored before burial), νεκροτομείο (el) n (nekrotomeío) (building in which autopsies take place)
• Gujarati: મોર્ગ (morg)
• Haitian Creole: mòg
• Hebrew: חֲדַר מֵתִים m (khadár metím)
• Hindi: मुर्दाघर m (murdāghar), शवगृह m (śavgŕh)
• Hungarian: hullaház (hu), halottasház (hu)
• Icelandic: líkhús (is) n
• Ido: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: rumah mayat
• Irish: marbhlann f
• Italian: obitorio (it) m, camera mortuaria f
• Japanese: 霊安所 (れいあんじょ, reianjo), 遺体安置所 (いたいあんちしょ, itai anchisho), 霊安室 (れいあんしつ, reianshitsu), 死体置き場 (したいおきば, shitaiokiba), モルグ (morugu), 死体安置所 (したいあんちじょ, shitai anchijo)
• Kazakh: мәйітхана (mäiıtxana), мүрдехана (mürdexana), өлікхана (ölıkxana)
• Khmer: ផ្ទះសព (phtĕəh sɑp), ឆវគ្រឹះ (chaʼvĕəʼkrɨh), សវមន្ទីរ (saʼvaʼ mŭəntii)
• Korean: 영안실(靈安室) (yeong'ansil), 시체공시소(屍體公示所) (sichegongsiso)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: morg (ku)

• Kyrgyz: морг (morg), табыткана (tabıtkana), өлүккана (ölükkana), өлүкжай (ölükjay)
• Lao: ຫ້ອງເຢັນ, ເຮືອນເຢັນ (hư̄an yen), ໂຮງເຢັນ (hōng yen)
• Latin: mortuārium n
• Latvian: morgs m
• Lithuanian: lavoninė f, morgas m
• Luhya: emochari
• Macedonian: мртовечница f (mrtovečnica)
• Malay: rumah mayat
• Maori: whare tūpāpaku
• Marathi: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хүүрийн байшин (xüüriin bajšin), оршуулгын (oršuulgyn), гашуудлын (gašuudlyn)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: likhus n

• Occitan: mòrga f
• Pashto: مړيځی m (mǝṛiyay)
• Persian: مُردِه‌شوی‌خانِه (morde-šuy-xâne), مُردِه‌خانِه (fa) (morde-xâne), سَردخانِه (fa) (sardxâne)
• Polish: kostnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: necrotério (pt) m (Brazil), morgue (pt) f
• Romanian: morgă (ro) f, cameră mortuară f
• Russian: морг (ru) m (morg), поко́йницкая (ru) f (pokójnickaja) (dated), мертве́цкая (ru) f (mertvéckaja) (dated)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мр̀тва̄чница f

  Roman: mr̀tvāčnica (sh) f

• Slovak: márnica (sk) f
• Slovene: mrtvašnica (sl) f
• Spanish: morgue (es) f, depósito de cadáveres (es) m
• Swahili: mochari (sw), chumba cha maiti
• Swedish: bårhus (sv) n
• Tagalog: morge
• Tajik: морг (morg), мурдахона (murdaxona)
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: โรงเก็บศพ (roong-gèp-sòp), ห้องดับจิต (th) (hɔ̂ng-dàp-jìt)
• Tok Pisin: mog
• Turkish: morg (tr), ölühane (tr)
• Turkmen: jynaza degişli, morg
• Ukrainian: морг m (morh), покі́йницька f (pokíjnycʹka) (dated), мертве́цька f (mertvécʹka) (dated), трупа́рня f (trupárnja)
• Urdu: مُردَہ خانَہ m (murdā xānā)
• Uyghur: جەسەتخانا (jesetxana), ئۆلۈكخانا (ölükxana)
• Uzbek: oʻlikxona (uz), morg (uz), murdaxona (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhà xác (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: marwdy m, madrodd f
• Yiddish: מאָרג (morg)
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “morgue”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

French

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔʁɡ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

morgue f (plural morgues)

1. morgue, mortuary (place where dead bodies are stored)
2. morgue, coldness, disdain, arrogance (supercilious attitude)

Descendants

• → Portuguese: morgue
• → Turkish: morg

Further reading

• “morgue”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔʁ.ɡi/ [ˈmɔɦ.ɡi]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔʁ.ɡi/ [ˈmɔɦ.ɡi]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔɾ.ɡi/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔʁ.ɡi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔɻ.ɡe/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔɾ.ɡɨ/ [ˈmɔɾ.ɣɨ]

• Hyphenation: mor‧gue

• Audio (Brazil):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French morgue.

Noun

morgue m (plural morgues)

1. morgue

   Synonym: necrotério

Etymology 2

Verb

morgue

1. inflection of morgar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French morgue.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoɾɡe/ [ˈmoɾ.ɣ̞e]
• Rhymes: -oɾɡe
• Syllabification: mor‧gue

Noun

morgue f (plural morgues)

1. morgue

Further reading

• “morgue”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28