Death

== Language ==
The word "death" comes from [[Old English]] ''dēaþ'', which in turn comes from Proto-Germanic *''dauþuz'' (reconstructed by etymological analysis). This comes from the Proto-Indo-European stem *''dheu-'' meaning the "process, act, condition of [[dying]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=death|title=Death|website=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013162848/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=death|archive-date=13 October 2016|url-status=live|access-date=5 November 2013}}</ref>

The concept and symptoms of death, and varying degrees of delicacy used in discussion in public forums, have generated numerous scientific, legal, and socially acceptable terms or euphemisms. When a person has died, it is also said they have "passed away", "passed on", "expired", or "gone", among other socially accepted, religiously specific, slang, and irreverent terms.

As a formal reference to a dead person, it has become common practice to use the [[participle]] form of "decease", as in "the deceased"; another noun form is "[[wikt:decedent|decedent]]".

Bereft of life, the dead person is a "corpse", "[[cadaver]]", "body", "set of remains" or, when all flesh is gone, a "[[skeleton]]". The terms "[[carrion]]" and "carcass" are also used, usually for dead non-human animals. The ashes left after a [[cremation]] are lately called "cremains".