urna
nounCEFR B2
What does “urna” mean in English?
1.a box into which voters place their completed ballot papers during an election
2.a container, often decorative, used to hold the ashes of a cremated person
Example sentences
Millones de ciudadanos acudieron a las urnas para elegir al nuevo presidente.
Millions of citizens went to the polls to elect the new president.
Las cenizas del escritor descansan en una urna de mármol dentro del panteón familiar.
The writer's ashes rest in a marble urn inside the family mausoleum.
How to use it
La urna (noun, feminine) most often refers, at B2, to the 'ballot box' used in elections: acudir a las urnas (to go to the polls), el resultado de las urnas. It can also mean a funerary or display urn/case (una urna de cristal). Context distinguishes the two senses immediately.
Common mistake
Acudir a las urnas is a fixed idiom meaning 'to go and vote', not a literal reference to boxes — it's always plural in this political sense (las urnas), even when referring to a single election.
Topics
Related B2 words
Reference
This entry’s teaching guidance follows Plan Curricular del Instituto Cervantes (Instituto Cervantes), B2 Nociones específicas: política y soci.