When we remember those killed in war, as with the 75th anniversary of VE Day, it is common to remark on their “sacrifice”. More than 100 doctors and nurses have now died of Covid-19 during the pandemic, and we are encouraged to be grateful for their “sacrifice” too. But whose sacrifice was it, and what for?

Sacrifice comes from the Latin sacrificus, literally “to make sacred”, and in ancient times denoted the slaughter of an animal (or human) to appease a god. Few, however, think Covid-19 is a plague sent by Zeus or Dionysus; the modern admiring usage adopts instead the Christian sense of “sacrifice” which means dying to save others.

As a term of public rhetoric, “sacrifice” is usefully vague: the great British public, we are told, has also made a “sacrifice” simply by not going to the pub. But when used to honour the dead, the word has a dark side. While praising the fallen for their Christlike selflessness, it neatly obscures the question of whether they actually wanted to die for everyone’s sins, or whether they wouldn’t rather have been given adequate protective equipment and survived safely into non-heroic old age.

• Steven Poole’s A Word for Every Day of the Year is published by Quercus.