Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or intentional trauma resulting in terminal injury. The nature of death has been for millennia a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical enquiry, and belief in some kind of afterlife or rebirth has been a central aspect of religious faith. Etymology The word death comes from Old English deað, which in turn comes from Proto-Germanic *dauþaz (reconstructed by etym...