bury

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb cover from sight
  2. verb place in a grave or tomb
  3. verb place in the earth and cover with soil

Etymology

Cognate with Icelandic byrgja (“to cover, shut; to hold in”); West Frisian bergje (“to keep”), German bergen (“to save/rescue something”), Danish bjerge (“to save/rescue something or somebody”); also Eastern Lithuanian bir̃ginti (“to save, spare”), Russian бере́чь (beréčʹ, “to spare”), Ossetian ӕмбӕрзын (æmbærzyn, “to cover”). The spelling with ⟨u⟩ represents the pronunciation of the West Midland and Southern dialects, while the Modern English pronunciation with /ɛ/ is from the Kentish dialects. Compare typologically Russian хорони́ть (xoronítʹ) (akin to храни́ть (xranítʹ).

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