Etymograph

English

cineration

Cineration comes from Latin cinis ‘ashes’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ken-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ken-1‘dust, ashes’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kenis1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcinis2‘ashes’
  4. Englishtodaycineration2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin cinis
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English cineration

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ken-Wiktionary, Latin cinis‘dust, ashes’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kenisWiktionary, Latin cinisreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcinisWiktionary, English cineration‘ashes’
  4. EnglishtodaycinerationWiktionary, English cineration

The story

Latin cinis (‘ashes’): compare French cinération.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ken- ‘dust, ashes’

recent, nod, nosh, recency, nookie, 20 more

through Latin cinis ‘ashes’

incinerate, 7 more

Today it means

noun The reducing of anything to ashes by combustion; incineration.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cineration”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin cinis. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ken- / cineration

Shirt and support for this word