Spelled By:

Wendy Guey, 1996

Used in a Sentence:

"In the 18th and 19th centuries, the fear of accidental vivisepulture, or premature burial, led to the creation of safety devices that enabled the occupant of a grave to ring a bell above the ground if he woke up in his coffin alive."

About the Word:

Pronunciation: \viv-ih-SEP-ul-cher\

The act or practice of burying alive, known as vivisepulture, has a linguistic link to vivisection, dissecting something still alive. The vivi- in both words has an ancestor in the Latin vivere, "to live."