stony

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stoni, also stany and stoony,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English stānig,^[5][6][7][8] from stān (“stone”) and the suffix -ig, the source of -y.^[4][3][6] The adjective goes back to Proto-Germanic *stainagaz,^[9][5] formed on *stainaz (“stone”),^[9][5] and is cognate with Old High German steinag and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍃 (stainahs, “stony”).^[5][9][2] Old English also had stǣnig, of a slightly different formation.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rocky, full of rocks: in Old English, in the Rushworth Gospels (Matthew 13:5).^[5][8] Dictionary.com dates the word to before 1000.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, hard and unfeeling as if made of stone, appears about 1230 in “Hali Meidenhad”,^[5][2] and the sense "full of stones or pebbles" about 1400.^[5] In the 16th century the adjective was used of things as hard as stone (about 1523) and of fear, grief or silence that numbs or petrifies (1590, in Spenser);^[5][6] a fixed, expressionless look is stony from 1642.^[5][6] Johnson (1755) gave "made of stone" as the first sense, quoting Shakespeare's "stony limits".^[11] The phrase fall on stony ground is used of a suggestion that is ignored or comes to nothing.^[6] In 1802 stony was applied to meteorites made mostly of silicates.^[5] Late 19th-century slang shortened stony-broke to stony, penniless, recorded from 1884 in Britain and 1885 in Australia.^[12][6] In Scots dialect a stany was a hard glazed marble used in boys' games.^[13]

Timeline

• before 1000 – Old English stānig, rocky.^[5][10]
• c. 1230 – hard-hearted, unfeeling.^[5]
• c. 1400 – full of stones.^[5]
• c. 1523 – hard as stone.^[5]
• 1590 – of fear or grief, numbing, petrifying.^[5][6]
• 1642 – fixed and expressionless, of the eyes or look.^[5][6]
• 1802 – of a meteorite, made mainly of silicates.^[5]
• 1884 – slang, penniless.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of stones or rocks: a stony path down to the cove.^[14][4][6]
2. Made of, or like, stone; hard as stone.^[14][6][5]
3. Without feeling or pity; unfeeling, obdurate: Her pleas met a stony silence.^[14][4][6]
4. Fixed and without expression: He gave the waiter a stony stare.^[6][5]
5. Of a meteorite: made mostly of silicates and other non-metals.^[6][5]
6. (British slang) Having no money; short for stony-broke.^[14][6][12]
7. fall on stony ground: of advice or a suggestion, to be ignored or have no effect.^[6]
8. (obsolete, 1585–1785) Of fruit: having a stone, or many hard seeds.^[5][6]

Word family

• stonily
• stoniness
• unstony
• stony-faced
• stonyhearted
• stony coral

Related words

• stone
• stony-broke
• astony

Usage notes

A separate obsolete verb stony, to stun, stupefy or numb, used from about 1330 to the late 17th century, is an aphetic form of astony, related to astonish, and was probably sometimes confused with stun.^[5][6][4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins