hearse

/hɜːs/US/hɝs/

hearse noun: a framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies. Also the alternative form of hearst.

Image: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

hearse (plural hearses)

A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies.
A grave, coffin, tomb, or sepulchral monument.
- underneath this sable hearse1621, Ben Jonson, Epitath to Mary Herbert
- Beside the hearse a fruitful palm tree grows,1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Third Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold]...
A bier or handbarrow for conveying the dead to the grave.
- Set down, set down your honourable load, / If honour may be shrouded in a hearse.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
A carriage or vehicle specially adapted or used for transporting a dead person to the place of funeral or to the grave.

Verb

hearse (third-person singular simple present hearses, present participle hearsing, simple past and past participle hearsed)

(dated) To enclose in a hearse; to entomb.
- I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin!c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

Also used as

hearse is also the alternative form of hearst.

hearse meaning in Arabic, Malay and Vietnamese

hearse in Arabic

vehicle for transporting dead: سَيَّارة نَقْل مَوْتَى sayyāra naql mawtā, عَرَبة نَقْل مَوْتَى ʕaraba naql mawtā

hearse in Malay

vehicle for transporting dead: van jenazah

hearse in Vietnamese

vehicle for transporting dead: xe tang, xe hòm

Forms of hearse

Noun
plural	hearses
alternative form	herse
Verb
third-person singular present	hearses
present participle	hearsing
past participle	hearsed
past	hearsed

Plural of hearse: hearses

Origin of hearse

From Middle English herse, hers, herce, from Old French herce in the sense "triangular framework used to support candles". Ultimately the same word as Old French herce (“harrow”), from Latin *herpicem, accusative singular of *herpex, a variant form of hirpex (“harrow”). The agricultural device's name comes from Oscan hirpus (“wolf”), a reference to a harrow's many teeth. The term for wolf may ultimately be from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“stiff, rigid, bristled”). The Oscan term is related to Latin hīrsūtus (“bristly, shaggy”), whence English hirsute. The TLFi considers the "framework to support candles" sense of the French word to be derived more specifically from Medieval Latin hercia; in any case, this is ultimately from the same source. (Du Cange sees in hercia a contraction of an extended form *herpicia. It may instead simply be a Latinization of Old French herce.) Doublet of herse (“kind of gate”).

Words formed from hearse

Words that rhyme with hearse

36 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about hearse

What does hearse mean?: Hearse means a framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies.
What is hearse in Arabic?: Hearse in Arabic is سَيَّارة نَقْل مَوْتَى (sayyāra naql mawtā), عَرَبة نَقْل مَوْتَى (ʕaraba naql mawtā). See Hearse meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is hearse?: Hearse can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce hearse?: Hearse is pronounced /hɜːs/ (UK).
What is the plural of hearse?: The plural of hearse is hearses.

Words near hearse in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: hearse (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-hearse.wav.

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