gravestone

Etymology

It is formed from English grave + stone,^[2][3][4][5] and in Middle English was grāve-stōn.^[6] The first part is from Old English græf (“grave, ditch, trench”),^[4] and the second from stān.^[4] Similar compounds are German Grabstein, Dutch grafsteen and Danish gravsten.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A stone coffin: before 1225,^[2] about 1200 in Etymonline,^[4] and Dictionary.com dates the word 1175–1225.^[5] This sense is rare and obsolete.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense "stone placed over a grave" appears in 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[2][4] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to the 14th century.^[3] The Middle English Dictionary has it also for the stone at the entrance of Christ's tomb, quoting the Cursor Mundi: Had lifte awey þe graue stone.^[6] A stone over a grave or closing a tomb was the older referent; the word was later applied as well to an upright stone with an inscription at the head or foot of the grave,^[2] which is what recent dictionaries chiefly describe.^[5][7]

Timeline

• before 1225 – a stone coffin (rare, obsolete).^[2]
• 1387 – a stone placed over a grave or at the entrance of a tomb.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stone that marks a grave, usually inscribed with the name and dates of the dead person.^[5][7][3][8]
2. (obsolete) A stone coffin.^[2][6]

Related words

• grave
• stone

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt