Scrabble Bingo of the Day: CREMAINS

CREMAINSn/pl  the ashes of a cremated body

62 points (12 points without the bingo)

Perhaps one of the creepiest portmanteau words out there, CREMAINS combines CREMATED and REMAINS to clearly describe the leftover ashes from a dead body that was burned. When you're grieving, it's so much easier to say two syllables than five.

CREMATION happens in a CREMATORIUM in a special kind of furnace referred to as a cremation chamber or RETORT. The dead body is entered into this burning device by an UNDERTAKER or MORTICIAN who thoroughly CREMATES the remains for two or more hours in extreme heat ranging from 1400 to 2100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The result—ashes.

Well, not really ashes. And not yet. The organs and soft tissue are vaporized and oxidized by the intense heat, so the cremains have neither the appearance nor the chemical properties of ashes. Instead, they are bone fragments that need additional preparation, further reduced in size in a cremulator (which is not a Scrabble word, though it should be!), which pulverizes the fragments into a fine powder in a process lasting about twenty minutes.

After the final grinding process, the cremains are stored in CINERARY urns and temporarily stored in a CINERARIUM. They are eventually either buried in a cemetery plot, kept in a COLUMBARIUM, retained by a family member, or scattered on private property.

Some countries and religions perform public open-air cremations as part of a burning rite, as seen below in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Oddly enough, the Cremation Association of North America opposes the term "cremains" because it's thought to have less human connection with the deceased, rather than "cremated remains."

One of the greatest Halloween movies (in my opinion) to deal with the cremation process is The Return of the Living Dead, a funny take on the zombie genre where zombie containers stored in a medical supply company are accidentally unsealed, leaking gas into the air, causing the dead to become undead. One body is cremated, further distributing the gas into a nearby cemetery.

Related Words

CADAVERn pl. -S  a corpse

CINERARIUMn pl. -RIA  a place where cremated remains are kept

CINERARY  adjused for cremated ashes

COLUMBARIUMn pl. -RIA  a niche to hold funeral urns

CORPSEn pl. -S  a dead body

CREMATEv-MATED, -MATING, -MATES  to reduce to ashes by burning

CREMATIONn pl. -S  the act of cremating a dead body

CREMATORn pl. -S  one that cremates

CREMATORIUMn pl. -RIUMS or -RIA  crematory

CREMATORYn pl. -IES  a place where a dead body is cremated

MORTICIANn pl. -S  an undertaker

MORTUARYn pl. -IES  a place where dead bodies are kept until burial

REMAINSv-ED, -ING, -S  to continue in the same state

REMAINSn/pl  a person's body after death

RETORTv-ED, -ING, -S  to answer back sharply

RETORTn pl. -S  a furnace used for cremation

SUTTEEn pl. SUTTEES  a Hindu widow cremated on her husband's funeral pile to show her devotion to him

UNDERTAKERn pl. -S  one who prepares dead bodies for burial or cremation

Above, a crematorium at the German concentration camp in Weimar.

Photos by uiowa, a4gpa, Wimox, dukeandrutgersinberlin, Benjamint444

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