carrion

carrion

See also: Carrion

English

Etymology

From Middle English caroigne, borrowed from Anglo-Norman caroigne, from Vulgar Latin *carōnia, from Latin caro (“flesh”). Compare French charogne.

The regular modern English form would be *carren, *carron /ˈkæɹ.ən/ (this is found dialectally; see below); the intervening /i/ is probably a hypercorrection based on the analogy of words like merlin/merlion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæ.ɹi.ən/
• (dialectal or obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈkæɹ.ən/[1]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

carrion (usually uncountable, plural carrions)

1. (chiefly uncountable) Dead flesh; carcasses.

   Vultures feed on carrion.

   • 1596 (date written; published 1633)​, Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], OCLC 606546850; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, OCLC 22906028:

     They did eat the dead carrions.

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House:

     He brought down with him to our haunted house a little cask of salt beef; for, he is always convinced that all salt beef not of his own pickling, is mere carrion […]

   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room, Vintage Classics, paperback edition, page 119

     Perhaps the Purple Emperor is feasting, as Morris says, upon a mass of putrid carrion at the base of an oak tree.

2. (countable, obsolete, derogatory) A contemptible or worthless person.
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:

     Old feeble carrions.

Derived terms

• carrion beetle
• carrion crow
• carrion flower

Translations

dead flesh; carcasses

Arabic: جِيفة‎ (jīfa), فَطِيسَة‎ (faṭīsa) Afrikaans: karkas Albanian: kërmë (sq), shtrek (sq) Armenian: լեշ (hy) (leš), գեշ (hy) (geš) Azerbaijani: cəmdək, leş Bashkir: емтек (yemtek), үләкһә (üläkhä) Basque: haratustel Bulgarian: мъ́рша (bg) f (mǎ́rša), леш (bg) m (leš) Catalan: carronya (ca) f, rossa (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 屍體／尸体 (zh) (shītǐ), 腐肉 (zh) (fǔròu) (slough) Czech: mršina f, zdechlina (cs) f Danish: ådsel (da) n, kadaver (da) n Dutch: kadaver (nl) n, aas (nl) n, kreng (nl) n, karkas (nl) n Faroese: ræ Finnish: haaska (fi), raato (fi) French: charogne (fr) f Georgian: ლეში (leši) German: Aas (de) n, Kadaver (de) m Greek: θνησιμαίο (el) n (thnisimaío), κουφάρι (el) n (koufári), ψοφίμι (el) n (psofími) Ancient: κενέβρεια n pl (kenébreia) Hebrew: נְבֵלָה‎ (he) f (nevelá), פֶּגֶר‎ (he) m (péger) Hungarian: döghús (hu), dög (hu), tetem (hu), hulla (hu) Irish: ablach m Italian: carogna (it) f Japanese: 骸 (ja) (mukuro), 死肉 (しにく, shiniku), 腐肉 (ふにく, funiku) Latin: cadaver n, morticīnus f Latvian: maita f Maori: pera Mongolian: улай (mn) (ulaj) Norwegian: åtsel n, kadaver n Old English: ǣs n Ottoman Turkish: لاش‎ (leş) Polish: padlina (pl) f Portuguese: carniça (pt) f Romanian: mortăciune (ro) f, stârv (ro) Russian: па́даль (ru) f (pádalʹ), мертвечи́на (ru) f (mertvečína), дохля́тина (ru) f (doxljátina) (colloquial) Slovak: zdochlina f Slovene: mrhovina (sl) f Spanish: carroña (es) f Swedish: as (sv) n, kadaver (sv) n Turkish: leş (tr) Ukrainian: па́даль f (pádalʹ), па́дло n (pádlo), мертве́ччина f (mertvéččyna), мертвечи́на f (mertvečýna), дохля́тина f (doxljátyna) (colloquial) Volapük: nimafun

(obsolete in English) contemptible or worthless person

Finnish: haaska (fi) German: Aas (de) n Hungarian: dög (hu)

References

1. Hall, Joseph Sargent (March 2, 1942), “2. The Vowel Sounds of Unstressed and Partially Stressed Syllables”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, DOI:10.7312/hall93950, →ISBN, § II.2, page 65.