churchyard
/ˈt͡ʃɝt͡ʃ.jɑɹd/
Etymology
From Middle English churchyard, chirch-ȝerd, chircheȝerd (also kirk-ȝerd, kirkeyard > English kirkyard), equivalent to church + yard. Compare also Middle English kurk-garth, kyrkgarth, kirrkegærd, from Old Norse kirkjugarðr (“churchyard; graveyard”). Replaced Middle English chirchetoun from Old English ċirictūn (churchtown).
churchyard means A patch of land adjoining a church, often used as a graveyard. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 80 out of 100.
churchyard is pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɝt͡ʃ.jɑɹd/.
Why “churchyard” is a great word
CHURCHYARD — [Noun] The consecrated ground adjoining a church, historically used as a burial ground. From Middle English 'churchyard', 'chircheȝerd', a compound of 'church' and 'yard' (enclosed ground). Influenced by or cognate with Old Norse 'kirkjugarðr' (church enclosure, graveyard). It replaced the earlier Old English term 'ċirictūn' (churchtown). Unlike a 'cemetery' — a separate, often municipal burial ground — or a 'graveyard' — which denotes specifically the plots of graves — a churchyard is a physical and spiritual annex to the sacred building. It is the mossy headstones tilting into a gentle slope, the dappled, restless shade of a yew tree older than the faith it guards, and the scent of damp earth and cold stone after rain. Here, the boundary between the congregation of the living and the community of the dead is merely a worn path through the grass.
noun
- A patch of land adjoining a church, often used as a graveyard.“They said nothing further, but tramped on in the growing darkness, past farm steadings, into the little village, through the silent churchyard where generations of the Pallisers lay, and up the beech avenue that led to Northrop Hall.”