So THAT's The Difference Between A Cemetery And A Graveyard

Though the terms are often used interchangeably, coffins and caskets are actually completely different things. 

The same goes for ghosts and ghouls, though I have to admit that the difference between the latter pair is significantly gorier. 

And since we’re on the subject of spooky, not-quite synonyms, I wondered – wait, are cemeteries the same thing as graveyards? 

Apparently, not, it seems. Though both refer to burial sites for the dead, they are actually distinct (I had no idea). 

What’s the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s site, it has to do with size, (sometimes) place, and figurative use of the words. 

A graveyard, they say, usually refers to a “small cemetery, such as one situated next to a church”. 

And “graveyard” is more often used “figuratively to refer to places where things are left or thrown away” – maybe your junk drawer is a “broken phone graveyard,” but not a “phone cemetery,” for instance. 

A graveyard is a type of cemetery, but a cemetery is not necessarily a graveyard. 

But you are not alone in substituting one term for the other. This is a common practice in modern usage, and, to be honest, using either will get your message across.

Still, per Dictionary.com, even today, we might have a slight preference for one word over the other. 

“Cemetery is perhaps more commonly used due to avoiding the word grave,” they shared.

Where do both words come from? 

Cemetery may have distant roots in Sanskrit, Merriam-Webster says: it comes from Middle English cimitery, “from Anglo-French cimiterie, from Late Latin coemeterium, from Greek koimētērion sleeping chamber, burial place, from koiman to put to sleep; akin to Greek keisthai to lie, Sanskrit śete he lies”.

Graveyard, however, seems to be centuries younger than “cemetery”. 

Its history is a little simpler, too – Dictionary.com lists the word as being “first recorded in 1765–75; grave + yard”.