carrion

Pronunciation: /ˈkɛ.ɹi.ən/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the dead and rotting body of an animal; unfit for human food

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English caroyne (“corpse, carrion, something disgusting”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman careine, caroigne, charogne, and Old French charoigne, Northern Old French caˈronië, caroine, caroigne (modern French charogne), probably from Vulgar Latin *carōnia, from Latin caro (“flesh”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”)) + -ia (suffix forming nouns). Doublet of crone. The regular modern English form would be *carren, *carron /ˈkæɹən/ (this is found dialectally; see similar kyarn); the intervening /i/ is either a hypercorrection based on the analogy of words like merlin/merlion or, more likely, represents metathesis of the last element of the diphthong in caroyne. The adjective is derived from the noun.

In classic literature

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
body

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