Abstract:The major concern of this graduation paper is on the research of the origins and formation of death euphemism. Euphemism is a language phenomenon that exists popularly in people’s lives. And the “death” euphemism is just one of the most important parts in euphemistic culture. During the process of communication, people have coined a great number of euphemistic expressions about “death” in order to make it not sounding so scaring. 

　　　This paper provides a detailed analysis of death euphemism, concerning its origins and its formation. The origins of euphemism are illustrated in three aspects: Religious belief, social status and vocational languages.And phonetic devices, vocabulary devices and rhetorical devices are the formation processes expanded in the paper. The analysis of those may help readers understand the inner relation of languages as well as improve their ability of using euphemistic expressions effectively. 

Key Words: Death Euphemism, Origins, Formation

中文摘要:本文主要研究死亡委婉语的起源和构词。委婉语是一种广泛存在于人民生活中的语言现象。而死亡委婉语是委婉语中的一个重要部分。人们在沟通交流的过程中，发明了许多死亡委婉语 ，使得死亡这个话题不那么让人恐惧。 

　　本文从死亡委婉语的起源和构词两方面进行分析。死亡委婉语的起源涉及宗教信仰、社会地位、职业分工三个方面。而死亡委婉语的构词则包括语音法，词汇法以及修辞法三种方法，对死亡委婉语起源和构词的分析可以帮助我们了解死亡委婉语的内在结构，使我们能够更准确的加以使用。

关键词：死亡委婉语；起源；构词