mourner

English

Etymology

From Middle English mourner, mornere, equivalent to mourn +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: môrnʹər, IPA^(key): /ˈmɔɹnɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: mônʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈmɔːnə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: mōrnʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈmo(ː)ɹnɚ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈmoənə/
• (rare, rhotic, with or without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: mo͝ornʹər, IPA^(key): /ˈmʊɹnɚ/
• (rare, non-rhotic, with or without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: mo͝ornʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈmʊənə/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)nə(ɹ)

Noun

mourner (plural mourners)

1. Someone filled with or expressing grief or sadness, especially over a death; someone who mourns.
   • 1830, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Juvenile Forget Me Not 1831, The Miniature, pages 37–45:

     Disuniter of all affection—awful seal to life's nothingness—warning and witness of power and judgment—Death has always enow of terror and sorrow, even when there are many to comfort the mourner, when the path has been smoothed for the sufferer, and life offers all its best and brightest to soothe the survivor; […]

   • 2024 September 17, Lauren DePino, “I Sang at Hundreds of Funerals. This Is What I Learned About Grief.”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[1]:

     I stood close to heartsick mourners and worried that I would not sustain the enormousness of their spiritual weight.

2. Any of a number of suboscine birds in the related familes Tityridae and Tyrannidae.

Translations

someone filled with or expressing grief or sadness

• Bulgarian: опечален (bg) m (opečalen)
• Finnish: surija
• Georgian: დამტირებელი (damṭirebeli), ჭირისუფალი (č̣irisupali)
• German: Trauernder (de) m, Trauernde (de) f
• Hausa: makoki
• Latin: plōrātor (la) m. (hired) praefica f
• Maori: kirimate, kiriwera, paemate (if in a group)
• Polish: żałobnik (pl) m, żałobnica f
• Russian: пла́кальщик (ru) m (plákalʹščik)
• Swahili: mfiwa, mwombolezaji
• Yiddish: קלאָגער m (kloger), קלאָגערין f (klogerin), אָבֿל m (ovl)