Wordwyrt

mourner

/ˈmɔːnə/MAWR-nur
/ˈmɔɹnɚ/MAWR-nur

Meaningone that sorrows

Common meaning: a person or thing that mourns

Journey through time

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mar- or *mur-‘rustle, murmur’source
  2. Old Englishmurnan‘to grieve’sourceB&T
  3. Middle Englishmurnensource
  4. Englishmourn‘to grieve’
  5. Englishformed in English from mournmourner‘a person or thing that mourns’ · today

Sources & notes

Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: one that sorrows. It can be inferred from any of: mourn.

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from mourn + -er (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).

Source words

  • murnan Old English · source word “sorrowing”

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