tombstone C2+ Topic:Nature & Landscape Also spelled tombstean and tombsteans US /ˈtumstoʊn/ UK /ˈtuːmstəʊn/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun a stone marker placed over a grave, usually bearing the deceased's name Moss had crept over the weathered tombstone. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a stone marker placed over... gravestoneheadstonemonumentmarkermemorialslab Word family Related forms tombgravestoneheadstone Etymology AI details A compound of tomb (from Old French tombe, from Late Latin tumba, from Ancient Greek tymbos 'burial mound') and stone. tumba Latin τύμβος Ancient Greek View etymology graph -> Topics Nature & Landscape External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # tombstone **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈtumstoʊn/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈtuːmstəʊn/ ## Meanings 1. a stone marker placed over a grave, usually bearing the deceased's name ## Examples - Moss had crept over the weathered tombstone. ## Synonyms - gravestone - headstone - monument - marker - memorial - slab ## Related Forms - tomb - gravestone - headstone ## Roots and Affixes - Root: tumba - Root: τύμβος ## Etymology A compound of tomb (from Old French tombe, from Late Latin tumba, from Ancient Greek tymbos 'burial mound') and stone. ## AI Etymology Tombstone is a compound of tomb (from Old French tombe, from Late Latin tumba, from Ancient Greek tymbos 'burial mound') and stone. The historical chain includes Latin tumba and Ancient Greek τύμβος. The quoted older sense, "burial mound," supplies the immediate semantic anchor for tombstone. The formation is best read as compound and borrowed: the word tombstone carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a stone marker placed over a grave, usually bearing the deceased's name". Related English forms include tomb, gravestone, and headstone. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization. ## Topics - Nature & Landscape markdown