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I am trying to come up with a term to represent human remains that have not been cremated; they will be buried in a casket. I tried casketed, but that's not actually word although it sounds good. whole just sounds like a strange and almost disrespectful word to use. Any ideas?

Edit: My specific usage is referring to a ceremony (burial at sea) that is different depending upon whether the person is cremated or not. For example, "only two of these locations allow casketed remains." The remains will not be buried in the traditional sense, because it is a burial at sea.

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    Everyone else just uses the buried/cremated distinction. Why doesn't that work for you?
    – FumbleFingers
    Sep 25, 2014 at 18:02
  • Entombed, perhaps?
    – MT_Head
    Sep 25, 2014 at 18:02
  • @FumbleFingers please see my edit
    – Ian
    Sep 25, 2014 at 18:18
  • What's wrong with casketed? It seems entirely understandable.
    – Matt Gutting
    Sep 25, 2014 at 18:32
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    But the cremated, the buried and the buried at sea all get 'casketed' (dreadful word) in the first instance, don't they?
    – WS2
    Sep 25, 2014 at 19:37

3 Answers 3

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What's wrong with buried? The online MW defines it as:

to put (a dead person or animal) in a grave

The word does not in any way imply cremation and a body that is buried will always be understood to be, well, not cremated. Otherwise, one refers to ashes.

Having seen your edit, I think you are backing yourself into a corner for no reason. Just change the formulation to:

Caskets are only allowed in two of these locations.

or

Cremation is required in all but two of these locations.

or

Coffins are only allowed in two of these locations.

I see no reason to force an adjective into this.

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  • In this case, the person is not buried yet. I will add more detail to the question.
    – Ian
    Sep 25, 2014 at 18:15
  • @Ian in that case, it's a corpse, but see update.
    – terdon
    Sep 25, 2014 at 18:21
  • Thank you, I guess a rephrasing makes more sense anyway.
    – Ian
    Sep 25, 2014 at 18:22
  • Buried doesn't necessarily mean not cremated, since you can always bury an urn containing cremated remains.
    – pacoverflow
    Sep 25, 2014 at 18:30
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    @pacoverflow true but in that case, you will say that you buried the urn. In the absence of qualifiers, the simple he was buried implies an entire body and a coffin.
    – terdon
    Sep 25, 2014 at 18:48
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The expression used by the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is "non-cremated remains", as is described on their site in terms of how a burial-at-sea must be prepared to meet local and federal laws.

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Try "embalmed". It indicates preparation for burial that definitely does not involve cremation.

Another option might be "shrouded" if the body will be wrapped in preparation for burial. Interestingly a quick search turned up a service that will rent you a yacht with crew and appropriate equipment for burial at sea. They mention "accepting prepared shroud (Strapped, weighted and identified from Funeral director).":

http://www.newenglandburialsatsea.com/burials-at-sea/

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