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Hidden under the main floor of a great church is often a large room, often with a tomb as its centerpiece. Many major European churches were built over the remains of a saint—the Vatican's great St. Peter's Basilica is an example—and instead of having the coffin buried, it was often given its spacious room below ground level. In a large aboveground tomb, or mausoleum, there may be several small chambers for individual coffins, also called crypts; when the comic book Tales from the Crypt made its first appearance in 1950, it was this meaning that the authors were referring to.

Examples of crypt in a Sentence

Noun the old church's crypt is the final resting place for the president and his beloved wife

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun But a staff member failed to check records that would have differentiated the veterans before burying the woman in a crypt with the wrong veteran. — Will Langhorne, Arkansas Online, 12 June 2022 In 1992, Hefner purchased the crypt next to Monroe’s for $75,000. — Vogue, 1 June 2022 The critical job involves caring for and maintaining the parish buildings and equipment, including an 18th-century clock, the 75-piece chandeliers and the crypt where more than 1,100 people have been laid to rest. — From Usa Today Network And Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 17 May 2022 Robertson was photographed making an obscene gesture in front of a statute of John Stark in the Capitol's crypt, prosecutors said. — Arkansas Online, 19 Mar. 2022 One of her first tasks will be managing a major renovation and restoration of the crypt. — From Usa Today Network And Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 17 May 2022 Robertson was photographed making an obscene gesture in front of a statute of John Stark in the Capitol's crypt, prosecutors said. — Arkansas Online, 19 Mar. 2022 Robertson was photographed making an obscene gesture in front of a statute of John Stark in the Capitol's crypt, prosecutors said. — Arkansas Online, 19 Mar. 2022 Robertson was photographed making an obscene gesture in front of a statute of John Stark in the Capitol's crypt, prosecutors said. — Arkansas Online, 19 Mar. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'crypt.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for crypt

Noun

borrowed from Latin crypta, crupta "covered passage, underground room," borrowed from Greek kryptḗ "underground room," noun derivative from feminine of kryptós "hidden, secret," verbal adjective of krýptein "to hide, conceal," of uncertain origin

Note: The verb krýptein is phonetically and semantically close to kalýptein "to cover, conceal," and the two may have influenced each other. Other forms with which krýptein has been compared, such as Old Church Slavic kryjǫ, kryti "to cover, hide, shroud," Lithuanian kráuju, kráuti "to pile up," are too distant phonetically to allow realistic reconstruction of an Indo-European verbal base. The alternation in consonants between kryp- (in krýptein, kryptós), kryb- (in krýbdēn "secretly"), and kryph- (in kryphêi "in secret," -kryphos "hidden") is apparently the result of both assimilation and analogy.

Combining form

combining form from Greek kryptós "hidden, secret" — more at crypt

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