A CARCASS — specifically an animal that died on its own rather than being slaughtered, from a root meaning to wither or fall away. It is the engine of the whole second half of Leviticus 11 (already on these pages): the flesh is one question, the corpse is another, and the corpse rules apply to CLEAN animals too — an ox that simply drops dead makes anyone who touches it unclean until evening (Leviticus 11:39). ⚠ That is the quiet root of a large later structure: what makes a permitted animal edible is not only its species but the manner of its death, which is why deliberate slaughter, rather than merely finding the animal, became the requirement. The same word is used of human bodies too, and of the fallen carcass of an idol. → first discussed at Lev 11:8