Funeral Industry Glossary of Terms

Apprentice -The name generally applied to an individual learning the embalming and funeral directing procedure under the supervision of a licensee.

Arrangement Conference - A meeting in which the Funeral Director gathers with the family of the deceased to make funeral arrangements. 

Arrangement Room - A room in the funeral home used to make the necessary funeral arrangements with the family of the deceased.

Atneed - Funeral and cemetery arrangements made at the time of death.

Bereaved-(N) The immediate family of the deceased. (V) suffering from grief upon the death of a loved one.

Burial - Placing of remains in an underground chamber, usually in a cemetery; also called ground burial interment.

Burial Certificate or Permit - A legal document issued by the local government authorizing disposition. The permit may authorize ground burial, cremation, entombment or removal. 

Burial Insurance - An insurance policy in which the principal is paid in a funeral service and merchandise rather than cash.

Burial Vault - A lined and sealed unit that is specifically engineered to support the weight of the earth grave as well as the heavy equipment that passes over it.

Key responsibilities of a funeral director include:

• Arranging for the deceased's removal and transfer from the place of death to the funeral home.
• Providing professional care for the deceased, such as embalming, casketing, and cosmetology.
• Meeting with the family to plan the funeral service.
• Completing necessary paperwork, including certificates and permits.
• Acquiring copies of the death certificate.
• Coordinating with cemeteries, crematories, or other final disposition locations.
• Writing and publishing the obituary.
• Organizing aspects of the service like clergy, music, flowers, transportation, pallbearers, and specialized fraternal or military tributes.
• Overseeing the funeral service and procession.
• Aiding the family with death-related claims and resources, such as Social Security, VA benefits, and grief support.

Casket - A container made of wood, metal or plastic into which the body is placed for interment. Caskets are sometimes referred to as "coffins."

Casketing - Placing of the body in the casket upon completion of embalming, dressing and cosmetology.

Cemetery - A business with property set aside for the disposition of the deceased.

Certified Death Certificate - A certified copy of the original certificate issued by the local government.  Certified death certificates are used when making claims for insurance and other death benefits. 

Chapel - A large room in the funeral home in which the funeral or memorial service is held. 

Coffin - A wedge shaped burial case, usually eight- sided.

Columbarium - A structure, similar to a mausoleum, but designed for inurnment of cremated remains. 

Committal Service - The final portion of the funeral service at which time the deceased is interred or entombed and the last remarks or prayers are said; also referred to as graveside service. 

Companion Crypt - A vault of chamber designed for two side-by-side burial. 

Coroner - A public official and in some cases a constitutional officer whose duty it is to investigate the case of death if it appears to be from other than natural causes, or if there was no physician in attendance for a long time prior to death.

Cosmetology - Use of cosmetics to restore life like appearance to the deceased. 

Cot - The stretcher-like carrier used to remove deceased persons from the place of death to the funeral home.

Cremation - The reduction of human remains to small bone fragments through the use of intense heat and pulverization. 

Cremation Garden - A dedicated section of a cemetery designed for the burial, scattering or other permanent placement of ashes.

Cremation Permit - A certificate issued by local government authorizing cremation of the deceased. 

Crematory - A building which houses a retort. 

Crypt - A vault or chamber used for keeping remains. 

Death Certificate - A legal document signed by the attending physician showing the cause of death and other vital statistical data pertaining to the deceased. 

Deceased - (N) one in whom all physical life has ceased; (V) dead.

Disinter - To remove the remains from their place of interment. 

Display Room - The room in the funeral home in which funeral merchandise such as:  caskets, urns, burial garments and vaults are displayed. 

Embalm - The process of preserving a body by means of circulating or placing preservative and antiseptic through the veins, arteries and body cavities. 

Embalmer - One who disinfects or preserves dead human bodies by the injection or external application of antiseptics, disinfectants or preservative fluids; prepares human bodies for transportation which are dead of contagious or infectious diseases; or uses derma surgery or plastic art for restoring mutilated features.

Ethics - The moral code which guides the members of the profession in proper conduct of their duties and obligations.

Eulogy - A brief speech that offers praise and celebrates the life of the person who has passed.

Exhume - To disinter. 

Family Car - The vehicle, often a limousine, in the funeral procession set aside for use by the immediate family.  

Family Room - A specially arranged room in the funeral home which affords the family privacy at the time of the funeral service. 

Flower Car - A vehicle used for the transportation of flower pieces from the funeral home to the church and/or cemetery. 

Final Disposition - The final arrangement, generally referring to the decision to choose between burial or cremation.  

Final Rites - The funeral service. 

First Call - The initial call from the family notifying the funeral home of a death and requesting the funeral homes services.  

Full Couch -  A casket which opens completely from one end to the other.

Funeral Arrangements - Funeral director's conference with the family for the purpose of completing financial and service details of a funeral.

Funeral Director - A professional who helps families to plan funeral services for their loved ones while honoring the deceased and celebrating a life lived. Synonym: mortician, undertaker. 

Funeral Home - A business that offers funeral services for the deceased and their families. Also called a mortuary. 

Funeral Service - A ceremony marking an individual's death. The funeral service can be a religious or cultural event and helps to honor the deceased. 

Funeral Spray - A collective mass of cut flowers sent to the residence of the deceased or to the funeral home as a floral tribute to the deceased. 

In State - The custom of availing the deceased for viewing by relatives and friends prior to or after the funeral service.

Inter - To bury human remains in the earth in a grave or tomb. 

Interment - The burial or final placement of remains.

Inurnment - The placement of cremated human remains in an urn and a placement of such urn in a niche, crypt, grave or other suitable location in a Cemetery

Lead Car - The vehicle in which the Funeral Director and sometimes the clergyman rides. When the procession is formed, the lead car moves to the head and leads the procession to the church and/or cemetery. 

License - An authorization from the state granting permission to perform duties which, without such permission, would be illegal.

Limousine - A luxurious automobile designed to seat five or more persons behind the driver's seat. 

Lowering Device - A mechanism used for lowering the casket into the grave. Apparatus is placed over the open grave which has two or more straps which support the casket over the opening. Upon release of the mechanism, the straps unwind from a cylinder and slowly lower the casket into the grave.

Mausoleum - A public or private building especially designed for entombment. It is usually a permanent, above�ground resting place for the deceased. 

Medical Examiner - A government official, usually appointed, who has a thorough medical knowledge and whose function is to perform an autopsy on bodies dead from violence, suicide, crime, etc., and to investigate circumstances of death.

Memorial Benches - Benches that either simply memorialize a loved one scattered or buried in a cremation garden, or actually contain the remains within.

Memorial Donation - A memorial contribution specified to a particular cause or charity, usually in lieu of flowers.

Memorial Service - A service conducted in memory of the deceased without the remains being present; also called a tribute service. 

Morgue - A place in which the bodies of persons found deceased are kept until identified and claimed or until arrangements for burial have been made.

Mortuary - A synonym for funeral home a building specifically designed and constructed for caring for the dead.

Mourner - One who is present at the funeral out of affection or respect for the deceased.

Next-of-Kin - a person's nearest relative; the person who hold the responsibility for making decisions for the funeral on behalf of the deceased. 

Niche - A recess in a wall or columbarium used for the placement of urns containing cremated remains. 

Obituary - The paragraph in the obituary section of a newspaper, or on the Internet, publicizing the death of a person and giving details of the funeral service the survivors wish to have published. 

Outer Burial Container - A concrete, metal or wood structure used to support a casket in the ground.

Pallbearers - Individuals whose duty is to carry the casket when necessary during funeral service. Pallbearers in some sections of the country are hired and in other sections are close friends and relatives of the deceased. 

Plot - A measured piece of land in a cemetery in which interment rights are purchased by a family or individual. A plot usually contains two or more graves. 

Prearranged Funeral - Funeral arrangements completed by an individual prior to his/her death, often funded by insurance or trust.

Preplan - Preplanning is the process in which an individual creates their statement of wishes for their final event plan allowing loved ones to focus on celebrating a life lived.

Private Family Estate - A small section of a cemetery, usually bordered by gates, shrubbery or other dividers, that allow for ground burial of several members of the same family.  

Private Family Mausoleum - An above-ground structure designed to hold, on average, two to twelve decedents, usually members of the same family.  

Private Service - This service is by invitation only and may be held at a place of worship, a funeral home or a family home.

Procession - The vehicular movement of the funeral from the place where the funeral service was conducted to the cemetery. May also apply to a church funeral where the mourners follow the casket as it is brought into and taken out of the church. 

Register - A book made available by the Funeral Director for recording the names of people visiting the funeral home to pay their respects to the deceased. Also has space for entering other data such as name, dates of birth and death of the deceased, name of the officiating clergyman, place of interment, time and date of service, list of floral tributes, etc. 

Remains - The deceased

Reposing Room - A room of the funeral home where a body lies in state from the time it is casketed until the time of the funeral service.

Scattering Garden - A dedicated section of a cemetery wherein families can scatter the ashes of their loved ones. Often plaques are available to memorialize the loved ones whose remains have been scattered there. 

Service Car - Usually a utility vehicle to which tasteful ornamentation may be added in the form of a metal firm name plate, post lamps, etc. It is utilized to transport chairs, church trucks, flower stands, shipping cases, etc. 

Survivor - The persons outliving the deceased, particularly the immediate family.

Sympathy Card - A card sent to the family to express their sympathy.

Transit Permit - A legal paper issued by the local government authorizing removal of a body to a cemetery for interment. Some cities also require an additional permit if the deceased is to be cremated.

Urn - A container, into which cremated remains are placed, made of metal, wood or stone. 

Vault - A burial chamber underground or partly so. Also includes in meaning the outside metal or concrete casket container.

Visitation - An opportunity for survivors and friends to view the deceased in private usually in a special room within the funeral home; also referred to as viewing.  

Visitation Room - A room of the funeral home where family and friends gather.

Wake - A watch kept over the deceased, sometimes lasting the entire night prece