Funeral glossary

Funeral terms you might hear, explained simply.

Antyesti: The Hindu last rites, usually ending in cremation.
Attended funeral: A funeral where family and friends attend a service. Funeral directors must show an attended funeral price on their standardised price list.
Bereavement Support Payment: A government payment for people whose husband, wife or civil partner (and in some cases cohabiting partner) has died.
Bhog: The Sikh ceremony marking the end of the Sahaj Paath reading after a funeral.
Burial society (Chevra Kadisha): A Jewish community organisation that prepares the body and arranges burial.
Celebrant: A person who leads a non-religious or semi-religious funeral ceremony.
Certificate for burial or cremation: The document the registrar issues in England and Wales (the “green form”) so the funeral can go ahead. Scotland uses Form 14; Northern Ireland uses GRO21.
Chapel of rest: A room at a funeral director’s premises where family can visit the person who has died.
Committal: The part of the service when the coffin is lowered into the grave or leaves the chapel for cremation.
Coroner: An independent judicial officer in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who investigates deaths that are sudden, unexplained or unnatural. In Scotland this role is carried out by the procurator fiscal.
Cortège: The procession of vehicles from the home or funeral director to the funeral.
Direct cremation: A cremation without a funeral service, where the ashes are returned to the family. Also called an unattended funeral.
Disbursements: Fees a funeral director pays on your behalf, such as crematorium, cemetery and officiant fees.
Embalming: Treatment that temporarily preserves the body, sometimes called hygienic treatment. It is not required by law.
Exclusive right of burial: The right, bought for a set number of years, to decide who is buried in a grave and what memorial is placed on it.
Funeral Expenses Payment: A government payment in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for people on certain benefits who are responsible for a funeral.
Funeral Support Payment: The Scottish Government’s payment to help with funeral costs for people on certain benefits.
Ghusl: The Islamic ritual washing of the body before burial.
Interment: The burial of a body or ashes.
Janazah: The Islamic funeral, including the congregational funeral prayer (Salat al-Janazah).
Kafan: The simple white shroud used in Muslim burials.
Medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD): The certificate completed by a doctor stating the cause of death, needed to register the death.
Medical examiner: A senior doctor who independently reviews the cause of death. Statutory in England and Wales since September 2024.
Natural burial: Burial in a woodland or meadow site using biodegradable materials, without embalming, often marked with a tree.
Order of service: The printed booklet given to mourners, setting out the running order, readings and music.
Probate: The legal right to deal with someone’s estate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland it is called confirmation.
Procurator fiscal: In Scotland, the prosecutor who investigates sudden, suspicious or unexplained deaths.
Repatriation: Moving a person who has died to another country for their funeral.
Shiva: The seven-day period of mourning at home after a Jewish funeral.
Standardised price list: The price list every UK funeral director must publish online and in branch, under the CMA’s Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021.
Tell Us Once: A free service that tells most government departments about a death in one go. Available in England, Scotland and Wales.
Unattended funeral: The CMA’s term for a direct cremation or direct burial with no mourners present.
Wake: A gathering to remember the person who has died, usually after the funeral.