undertaker

[ uhn-der-tey-ker uhn-der-tey-ker ]

noun

1. funeral director.
2. a person who undertakes something.

undertaker

/ ˈʌndəˌteɪkə /

noun

1. a person whose profession is the preparation of the dead for burial or cremation and the management of funerals; funeral director

Word History and Origins

Origin of undertaker¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; undertake, -er ¹

Example Sentences

"In the next day's paper, there was an article on how CalMac had loaded the wrong coffin onto the vessel - no mention of the undertaker," he recalled.

From BBC

“The situation is really bad. There are no goods, no food or fuel coming through. We’re starting to see items going missing from the shelves,” says Jiries al-Alam, the town undertaker.

From BBC

On Thursday, the BBC saw undertakers and funeral vans retrieving bodies from the street, while on nearby roads, cars swept away by the storm surge were piled on top of each other.

From BBC

Callum Flannelly is a painfully shy undertaker in Ireland who will be disinherited if he doesn’t marry by the time he’s 35.

From Los Angeles Times

Her mother died on 24 November 2021, but it was May 2022 before the undertaker said she could collect the ashes.

From BBC