pyre

[ pahyuhr ]

noun

1. a pile or heap of wood or other combustible material.
2. such a pile for burning a dead body, especially as part of a funeral rite, as in India.

pyre

/ paɪə /

noun

1. a heap or pile of wood or other combustible material, esp one used for cremating a corpse

Word History and Origins

Origin of pyre¹

1650–60; < Latin pyra < Greek pyrá hearth, funeral pile

Word History and Origins

Origin of pyre¹

C17: from Latin pyra, from Greek pura hearth, from pur fire

Example Sentences

A teenaged widow was burned on her husband's funeral pyre under the Hindu practice of sati 37 years ago.

From BBC

As is customary, a huge pyre was lit at the centre of the square.

From BBC

In 1968, Conservative MP Enoch Powell had given his explosive “rivers of blood” speech, in which he said that by permitting mass immigration, the country was “heaping up its own funeral pyre”.

From BBC

They cremated their dead on wood funeral pyres for three days, to purify the bodies of the deceased and transition their souls back into the Earth.

From Los Angeles Times

But when the time came for the festival’s grand finale, the burning and explosion of the snowman atop a pyre, high winds kicked up and the ceremony was scuttled for safety reasons.

From New York Times