Differences between casket and coffin

In the modern parlance of funeral professionals, the two Words often are used as synonyms, meaning burial receptacles. Sometimes the Words have different meanings: coffin can mean a burial receptacle with a hexagonal (or octagonal) shape resembling the form of the human body. A coffin in the strict sense of the Word is narrow at the head end, widens toward the shoulders and then gradually decreases in width toward the foot end. A casket on the other hand typically has the basic shape of a rectangular box, although the sides sometimes are urn shaped and the top is often dome shaped. In Great Britain, for example, most burial receptacles have a "coffin" shape, while in the US the "casket" shape is dominant.