Word.ws English Dictionary

carrion

Syllables: car·ri·onUK/ˈkæɹ.ɪ.ən//ˈkɛɹ.i.ən/

carrion noun: rotting flesh of a dead animal or person.

carrion: rotting flesh of a dead animal or person
Image: Djambalawa, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

carrion (usually uncountable, plural carrions)

  1. (usually) Rotting flesh of a dead animal or person.
    • Vultures feed on carrion.
    • [W]ee ſee by experience, that ſome [brute beasts] feedeth on yͤ graſſe in yͤ fyelds ſome liues in the ayre eating flyes, others vpon yͤ wormes in carin, others wͭ [with] that they fynd vnder the water.1568, Anthony of Gueuara [i.e., Antonio de Guevara], “That the Nobles ⁊ Beloued of Princes Exceede Not in Superfluous Fare, ⁊ that They bee Not too Sũptuous in Their Meates. A Notable Chapter for...
  2. (figuratively, usually) Corrupt or horrid matter.
    • [T]here are melancholy sceptics with a taste for carrion who batten on the hideous facts in history,—persecutions, inquisitions, St. Bartholomew massacres, devilish lives, […]1870, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Courage”, in Society and Solitude. Twelve Chapters, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 247
    • Roman fashionable society hated Cæsar, and any carrion was welcome to them which would taint his reputation.1879, James Anthony Froude, chapter XXIII, in Cæsar: A Sketch, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, footnote 2, page 402, column 1
  3. (figuratively, obsolete, usually) Filth, garbage.
  4. (derogatory, figuratively, obsolete, usually) The flesh of a living human body; also (Christianity), sinful human nature.
    • Shy[lock]. My ovvne fleſh and blood to rebell. / Salan[io]. Out vpon it old carrion, rebels it as theſe yeares.c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act...
  5. (countable, obsolete, uncountable, usually) A dead body; a carcass, a corpse.
    • [T]hey looked like anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves; they did eate the dead carrions, happy where they could finde them, yea, and one another soone after, insomuch as the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out of their graves; […]1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […]...
    • [T]here is here a perpetual Garriſon of Engliſh, but they are of Engliſh Dogs, vvhich are let out in the night to guard the Ships, and eat the Carrens up and dovvn the Streets, and ſo they are ſhut up again in the Morning.1620 October 4 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “XX. To My Cousin W[illiam] Vaughan Esq; from St. Malo”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume I...
  6. (countable, figuratively, obsolete, uncountable, usually) An animal which is in poor condition or worthless; also, an animal which is a pest or vermin.
    • [L]ords will by their wils / Rather haue one wodcock, than a thouſand dawſe. / Wodcocks ar meate, daws ar carren, wey this clauſe. / In dede ſir (ſaid the daw) I muſt needes agree, / Lords loue to eate you, and not to eate mee.1550, John Heywood, “The Woodcock and the Daw”, in An Hundred Epigrammes. […], London: […] Thomas Berthelet, →OCLC, signature [Cvi], verso
    • Let carren and barren, be ſhifted awaie, / for beſt is the beſt, whatſoeuer ye paie.1580, Thomas Tusser, “Septembers Husbandrie”, in Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie: […], London: […] Henrie Denham [beeing the assigne of William Seres] […], →OCLC, stanza 6, folio 15, verso
  7. (countable, derogatory, figuratively, obsolete, uncountable, usually) A contemptible or worthless person.
    • And vvhat other Oath, / Then Honeſty to Honeſty ingag'd, / That this ſhall be, or vve vvill fall for it. / Svveare Prieſts and Covvards, and men Cautelous / Old feeble Carrions, and ſuch ſuffering Soules / That vvelcome vvrongs: […]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]...
    • […] Pegg Kite, […] will be, I doubt, a troublesome carrion to us executors; but if she will not be ruled, I shall fling up my executorship.1661 September 24 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “September 15th, 1661”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume II...

Adjective

carrion (comparative more carrion, superlative most carrion)

  1. (derogatory) Pertaining to, or made up of, rotting flesh.
    • Theſe glotõs daily kil thẽſelf their own handes, ⁊ no man findeth fault, but carieth his cariẽ corſe into yͤ quere, and wͭ much ſolẽne ſeruice, burieth yͤ body boldly at the hie alter, whẽ thei haue at their life (as thapoſtle ſaith) made theyr belly their god, ⁊ liked to know none other: […]c. 1522 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatyce (Vnfynyshed) vppon These Wordes of Holye Scrypture, Memorare Nouissima, & Ineternum non Peccabis, Remember the Last Thynges, and Thou shalt Neuer...
    • This coouie [i.e., covey of harpies] rauenouſe, and ſwift with a deſperat onſet, / They gripte in tallants the meat, and foorth ſpourged a ſtincking / Foule carrayne ſauoure: […]1582, Virgil, “The Third Booke of Virgil His Aeneis”, in Richard Stanyhurst, transl., The First Foure Bookes of Virgils Æneis, […], London: […] Henrie Bynneman […], published 1583, →OCLC; republished...
  2. (figuratively) Disgusting, horrid, rotten.
    • [T]he baseness, the foul, the stinking, the carrion baseness, of the fellows that call themselves "country gentlemen," is, […] that, while they are thus bold with regard to the working and poor people, they never even whisper a word against pensioners, placemen, soldiers, parsons, fundholders...1826 September 16, “Rural Ride, down the Valley of the Avon, in Wiltshire”, in William Cobbett, editor, Cobbett’s Weekly Register, volume LIX, number 12, London: […] W[illiam] Cobbett, […], →OCLC...
    • 'But as for you, ye carrion rogues,' turning to the three men in the rigging—'for you, I mean to mince ye up for the try-pots;' and, seizing a rope, he applied it with all his might to the backs of the two traitors, till they yelled no more, but lifelessly hung their heads sideways, as the two...1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Town-Ho’s Story”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, pages 284–285
  3. (derogatory, figuratively) Of the living human body, the soul, etc.: fleshly, mortal, sinful.
    • Shees bitter to her country, heare me Paris, / For euery falſe drop in her bavvdy veines, / A Grecians life hath ſunke: for euery ſcruple / Of her contaminated carrion vvaight, / A Troyan hath beene ſlaine.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609...
  4. (obsolete) Very thin; emaciated, skeletonlike.
  5. (obsolete) Of or pertaining to death.
    • O hell! vvhat haue vve heere, a carrion death? / VVithin vvhoſe empty eye there is a vvritten ſcroule, / Ile reade the vvriting.c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act...

Proper noun capitalized: Carrion

Carrion

  1. A surname.

carrion meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

carrion in Hindi

carrion
मुर्दार murdār, क्रव्य kravya

carrion in Urdu

carrion
مردار murdār

carrion in Bengali

পচা, মরা মাংস

carrion in Malayalam

ചീഞ്ഞുനാറുന്ന ശവം, വൃത്തികെട്ടവസ്തു, ചീഞ്ഞമാംസം, ഹീനവസ്തു
More languagesFewer languages
carrion in Sanskrit
क्रविस् kravís
carrion in Arabic
جِيفة jīfa, فَطِيسَة faṭīsa
carrion in Thai
เนื้อเน่า nʉ́ʉa-nào, เนื้อตาย nʉ́ʉa-dtaai, ซากสัตว์ sâak-sàt

Examples of carrion in a sentence

  • [W]hat disordered slippery decks of a whale-ship are comparable to the unspeakable carrion of those battle-fields from which so many soldiers return to drink in all ladies' plaudits?1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Advocate”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers...
  • Perhaps the Purple Emperor is feasting, as Morris says, upon a mass of putrid carrion at the base of an oak tree.1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter X, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC...
  • You'l aske me vvhy I rather chooſe to haue / A vveight of carrion fleſh, then to receiue / Three thouſand Ducats?c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […]...

All 16 example sentences with carrion

Synonyms of carrion

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of carrion

Forms of carrion

Noun
pluralcarrions
Adjective
comparativemore carrion
superlativemost carrion

Origin of carrion

The noun is derived from Middle English caroyne (“corpse, carrion, something disgusting”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman careine, caroigne, charogne, and Old French charoigne, Northern Old French caˈronië, caroine, caroigne (modern French charogne), probably from Vulgar Latin *carōnia, from Latin caro (“flesh”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”)) + -ia (suffix forming nouns). Doublet of crone. The regular modern English form would be *carren, *carron /ˈkæɹən/ (this is found dialectally; see similar kyarn); the intervening /i/ is either a hypercorrection based on the analogy of words like merlin/merlion or, more likely, represents metathesis of the last element of the diphthong in caroyne. The adjective is derived from the noun.

Words formed from carrion

Phrases with carrion

Words that rhyme with carrion

Questions about carrion

What does carrion mean?
Carrion means rotting flesh of a dead animal or person.
What is carrion in Hindi?
Carrion in Hindi is मुर्दार (murdār), क्रव्य (kravya). See Carrion meaning in Hindi.
How do you use carrion in a sentence?
[W]hat disordered slippery decks of a whale-ship are comparable to the unspeakable carrion of those battle-fields from which so many soldiers return to drink in all ladies' plaudits?
What part of speech is carrion?
Carrion can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce carrion?
Carrion is pronounced /ˈkæɹ.ɪ.ən/ (UK).
What is the plural of carrion?
The plural of carrion is carrions.

Words near carrion in the dictionary

  1. Carrington Event
  2. Carrington Falls
  3. Carringtons
  4. carriole
  5. carrioles
  6. carrion
  7. carrion beetle
  8. carrion beetles
  9. carrion bird
  10. carrion crow
  11. carrion crows

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: carrion (page history and authors); Carrion (page history and authors); क्रव्य (Hindi) (page history and authors); مردار (Urdu) (page history and authors); carrion (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); carrion (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); क्रविस् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: Carrion.ogg.

Cite this entry: “carrion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/carrion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.