graveyard

C2+ Topic:Religion & Belief

US /ˈɡreɪvˌjɑrd/ UK /ˈɡreɪvjɑːd/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a burial ground, especially one beside a church

An old yew tree stood at the edge of the graveyard.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a burial ground, especially... cemetery churchyardburial groundnecropolisboneyard

Word family

Related forms grave yard

Etymology

Compound of grave (from Old English græf 'trench, grave', from Proto-Germanic *grabą) + yard (from Old English geard 'enclosure').

græf Old English geard Old English

View etymology graph ->

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# graveyard

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈɡreɪvˌjɑrd/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɡreɪvjɑːd/

## Meanings
1. a burial ground, especially one beside a church

## Examples
- An old yew tree stood at the edge of the graveyard.

## Synonyms
- cemetery
- churchyard
- burial ground
- necropolis
- boneyard

## Related Forms
- grave
- yard

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: græf
- Root: geard

## Etymology
Compound of grave (from Old English græf 'trench, grave', from Proto-Germanic *grabą) + yard (from Old English geard 'enclosure').

## AI Etymology
Graveyard is a compound of grave (from Old English græf 'trench, grave', from Proto-Germanic *grabą) + yard (from Old English geard 'enclosure'). The compound structure is semantically important: one element narrows the setting, direction, or quality, and the other supplies the object, action, or base idea. As a noun, it denotes "a burial ground, especially one beside a church", keeping the historical idea close to its dictionary sense. Relevant historical forms include Old English græf and Old English geard. Related words include grave, yard.

## Topics
- Religion & Belief

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graveyard

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