Funeral homes and cemeteries use words most people only hear a few times in their lives. Many of them come straight from the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule, which defines what a funeral home must show on its price list and what each item means. Others come from cemeteries, which follow their own state rules.
Below, each term gets a short explanation. Where the Funeral Rule defines a word, our explanation follows the rule.
Where an entry gives a price, it comes from the General Price Lists of funeral homes we checked between September 19 and October 23, 2026, with the number of homes that listed that item. "Middle" means half the homes charge more and half charge less. To see how these words fit together on a real list, read how to read a General Price List.
A to C
Alternative container
A simple, unfinished wood box or other non-metal container with no ornaments or fixed lining, made of materials like fiberboard, pressed wood or cardboard. It's used for direct cremation. A funeral home that offers direct cremation must make one available and say on its price list which ones it provides.
Arrangements conference
The meeting where you sit down with the funeral director and choose what you want. The home must hand you its General Price List when you start discussing prices or services in that meeting.
Basic services of funeral director and staff
The fee for the work every funeral needs: the arrangements conference, planning, permits, obituary notices and coordination with the cemetery or crematory. It may include the home's overhead. It's the only service fee the Funeral Rule lets a home make non-declinable. On the lists of 1,657 homes we checked, the middle fee was $2,800, and the middle half charge between $2,145 and $3,395.
Casket
A rigid container for a body, usually wood, metal, fiberglass or plastic, ornamented and lined with fabric. You can buy one anywhere, and the funeral home must accept it without a fee. On the lists we checked, the middle price of a home's least expensive casket was $1,195 (1,464 homes), and the middle price of its most expensive was $21,095 (1,346 homes).
Casket price list
A separate printed list of the home's caskets and alternative containers, with a price and description for each. The home must offer it when you start talking about caskets and before it shows you any. Some homes put these prices on the General Price List instead.
Cash advance items
Things the funeral home buys from someone else on your behalf, such as cemetery or crematory services, death certificates, flowers, obituary notices, clergy, musicians or pallbearers. They're listed one by one on your itemized statement. If the home adds a charge for getting them, or keeps a rebate, it must say so in writing.
Columbarium
A structure with small spaces, called niches, for urns holding cremated remains. It may be outdoors or part of a mausoleum.
Cremated remains
What's returned to the family after cremation: bone fragments processed to a uniform size and consistency. People often call them ashes.
Cremation
Exposing the body and its container to intense heat and flame, then processing what remains to a uniform size.
Cremation fee
The crematory's charge for performing the cremation. Some direct cremation prices include it and some don't, so ask. When a funeral home pays an outside crematory for you, that charge can appear as a cash advance item.
Crematory
A business that performs cremations and sells funeral goods, such as urns. Under the Funeral Rule, a crematory can't require you to buy a casket for direct cremation.
Crypt
A space in a mausoleum or other building that holds whole or cremated remains.
D to F
Direct cremation
Cremation without a formal viewing, visitation or ceremony with the body present. The price must include the basic services fee, and the list must show a separate price for when you provide the container. On the lists of 1,674 homes we checked, the middle price was $2,695, and the middle half charge between $2,016 and $3,309.
Disposition
The placement of a body or cremated remains in its final resting place, whether by burial, entombment, cremation or another method.
Embalming
Treating the body with chemicals, usually before a public viewing. Except in certain special cases, no law requires it, and the home can't charge for it without permission. Many homes require it for a public viewing by their own policy. On the lists of 1,751 homes we checked, the middle price was $910, and the middle half charge between $780 and $1,095.
Endowment care
See perpetual care.
Entombment
Burial in a mausoleum, usually in a crypt.
Forwarding remains
The funeral home's service when the body will be buried or cremated somewhere else: it cares for the body here and sends it to a funeral home in another place. The list must show one price and describe what it includes, and that price already includes the basic services fee.
Funeral ceremony
A service with the body present. The price list line is "use of facilities and staff for funeral ceremony." On the lists of 839 homes that showed it, the middle price was $650, and the middle half charge between $495 and $858.
Funeral provider
Any business that sells both funeral goods (like caskets) and funeral services (like caring for the body) to the public. The Funeral Rule applies to funeral providers, which includes funeral homes and some cemeteries and crematories.
Funeral Rule
The federal regulation, enforced by the FTC, that requires funeral providers to give prices by phone and in writing and lets you buy only what you want. Our guide to your rights under the FTC Funeral Rule explains it.
G to I
General Price List
The printed list of everything a funeral home sells, with prices and the date they took effect. The home must give you one to keep when you discuss arrangements in person, and must answer price questions by phone. People often call it the GPL.
Grave
A space in the ground in a cemetery for burying a body or an urn.
Grave liner
A container, usually reinforced concrete, placed in the grave around the casket so the ground doesn't sink. Some cover only the top; others cover the top and sides. The FTC says a grave liner will satisfy any cemetery requirement for an outer container.
Graveside service
A ceremony at the cemetery before burial. The list line is "use of equipment and staff for graveside service," and it can be added to an immediate burial. On the lists of 1,624 homes we checked, the middle price was $595, and the middle half charge between $450 and $845.
Hearse
The vehicle that carries the casket to the service and the cemetery. It may be priced as a flat fee, by the hour or by the mile. On the lists of 1,695 homes we checked, the middle price was $470, and the middle half charge between $390 and $570.
Immediate burial
Burial without a formal viewing, visitation or ceremony with the body present, except for a graveside service. The list must show a price range, a separate price for when you provide the casket, and a price for each option that includes a casket or alternative container. On the lists we checked, the middle simplest price was $3,795 (1,644 homes), the middle price when the family provides the casket was also $3,795 (1,446 homes), and the middle price with the home's casket was $5,260 (1,435 homes). Our immediate burial guide explains more.
Interment
Placing remains in their final place: burial in the ground, inurnment or entombment.
Inurnment
Placing cremated remains in an urn, which may then go into a niche or a grave.
Itemized statement
The written list the funeral home must give you at the end of the arrangements conference, showing each item you chose, its price, cash advance items and the total. Its full name is the statement of funeral goods and services selected. If the home says a law or a cemetery requires you to buy something, it must explain that here in writing.
L to N
Limousine
A car for the family, listed separately from the hearse on the price list. Like the hearse, it may be priced flat, by the hour or by the mile.
Mausoleum
A building where bodies or cremated remains are placed in crypts or niches above ground.
Memorial service
A ceremony to remember the person without the body present. It can happen any time after the death, including after cremation. The price list line is "use of facilities and staff for memorial service."
Niche
A space in a columbarium, mausoleum or niche wall that holds an urn.
O to P
Opening and closing
The cemetery's charge to dig the grave (or open a crypt or niche) and fill or close it afterward. It's a cemetery fee, separate from the funeral home's bill, and it may be charged in pieces. Ask for it by name.
Other preparation of the body
Care for the body other than embalming, such as cosmetic work for a viewing, or washing and disinfecting the body instead of embalming. It's its own line on the price list.
Outer burial container
Any container that goes in the grave around the casket, including grave liners and vaults. In most areas, state or local law doesn't require one, but many cemeteries do, so the grave won't sink. On the lists we checked, the middle price of a home's least expensive outer burial container was $1,495 (1,328 homes), and of its most expensive was $6,095 (1,221 homes). Our guide asks are burial vaults required?
Outer burial container price list
A separate list of the home's grave liners and vaults with prices, offered before the home shows you any. It must carry the FTC's sentence that most areas don't require a container, many cemeteries do, and either a grave liner or a vault meets that requirement.
Package
A set of goods and services sold together at one price. Funeral homes may offer packages, but only in addition to the itemized prices, never in place of them.
Perpetual care
Money set aside, often in a trust, for the long-term upkeep of the cemetery grounds. It's also called endowment care. The FTC says it's sometimes included in the price of a plot and sometimes charged separately, so ask.
Pre-need
Arranging a funeral before death, often with some or all of it paid ahead under a contract. State law, not the Funeral Rule, governs how that money is protected, and the FTC says protections vary widely from state to state.
R to T
Receiving remains
The funeral home's service when the death happened somewhere else and the body is sent to it for burial or cremation here. The list must show one price and describe what it includes, and that price already includes the basic services fee.
Refrigeration
Keeping the body cold until burial or cremation, often used instead of embalming. Some states require embalming or refrigeration if burial or cremation is delayed past a set time, and refrigeration is often an acceptable choice. On the lists of 1,185 homes that showed a refrigeration price, the middle was $405, and the middle half charge between $270 and $600.
Right of disposition
The legal right to decide what happens to a person's body and to arrange the funeral. State law sets who holds it and in what order, and the order varies. Florida's list, for example, includes the person's own written directions, then the spouse, adult children, parents and adult siblings, in that order. See who has the right to make funeral decisions and each state's page under funeral law by state.
Transfer of remains
Moving the body from the place of death to the funeral home. It may be a flat fee, an hourly charge or a mileage charge, sometimes with extra miles beyond a set distance. The FTC's pricing checklist calls it pickup of the body.
U to V
Urn
A container for cremated remains. It can be placed in a columbarium or mausoleum, or buried in the ground. You can buy one anywhere, and the funeral home must accept it without a fee.
Vault
An outer burial container that completely encloses the casket. A vault and a grave liner both meet a cemetery's outer container requirement.
Viewing
Time for family and friends to see the body before the funeral, sometimes called a visitation. The list line is "use of facilities and staff for viewing." On the lists of 1,706 homes we checked, the middle price was $500, and the middle half charge between $395 and $695.
To see what homes near you charge for these lines, search funeral homes by ZIP code or look at a state page such as our California funeral cost page.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between interment and inurnment?
Interment is the broad word for placing remains in their final place, whether that's burial in the ground, entombment or inurnment. Inurnment means placing cremated remains in an urn. A cemetery may charge an opening and closing fee for either.
Is a grave liner the same as a vault?
Both are outer burial containers that go in the grave around the casket. A vault completely encloses the casket, while a liner may cover only the top, or the top and sides. The FTC says either one satisfies a cemetery's requirement.
Are cemetery charges on the funeral home's price list?
Often not. The cemetery sells the grave and charges for opening and closing, the liner it requires and upkeep. If the funeral home pays those fees for you, they show up as cash advance items on your itemized statement. The Funeral Rule doesn't cover cemeteries that don't sell both funeral goods and services.
Sources
- eCFR: 16 CFR Part 453, Funeral Industry Practices
- FTC: Complying with the Funeral Rule
- FTC: Funeral Terms and Contact Information
- FTC: The FTC Funeral Rule
- FTC: Funeral Costs and Pricing Checklist
- FTC: Buying a Cemetery Site
- FTC: Planning Your Own Funeral
- Florida Statutes § 497.005: Definitions
- HonestFarewell: checked General Price Lists