megalith

English

WOTD – 22 October 2023

Etymology

PIE word
*méǵh₂s

Megaliths (sense 1.1) of Avebury in Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom.

From mega- (prefix meaning ‘very large, great’) +‎ -lith (suffix meaning ‘stone’), a back-formation from megalithic probably modelled after monolith. from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos, “stone”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɡəlɪθ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɡəˌlɪθ/
• Hyphenation: meg‧a‧lith

Noun

megalith (plural megaliths)

1. (archaeology)
   2. A large stone slab making up a prehistoric monument, or part of such a monument.
   3. A prehistoric monument made up of one or more large stones.
2. (by extension) A large stone or block of stone used in the construction of a modern structure.

Hyponyms

• orthostat
• standing stone
• talayot

Holonyms

• dolmen

Derived terms

• megalithical
• megalithically
• megalithism

Related terms

• megalithic (first attested earlier than megalith)
• menhir
• microlith
• monolith
• polylith

 

Translations

large stone slab making up a prehistoric monument, or part of such a monument

• Afrikaans: megaliet
• Arabic: جندل
• Bengali: মেগালিথ (megalith)
• Bulgarian: мегалит (megalit)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巨石 (zh) (jùshí)

• Danish: megalit c
• Dutch: megaliet (nl) m
• Esperanto: megalito
• Estonian: megaliit
• Finnish: megaliitti, kivipaasi (fi)
• French: mégalithe (fr) m
• Galician: anta (gl) m, arca (gl) f, forno (gl) m, mégalito
• Georgian: მეგალითი (megaliti)
• German: Megalith (de) m
• Hebrew: מגלית (he) m
• Hindi: महापाषाण (mahāpāṣāṇ)
• Ido: megalito (io)
• Indonesian: megalit (id)
• Interlingua: megalitho
• Italian: megalite m, megalito (it) m
• Japanese: 巨石 (ja) (きょせき, kyoseki)
• Macedonian: мегалит m (megalit)
• Malay: megalit
• Marathi: महापाषाण (mahāpāṣāṇ)
• Portuguese: megálito m
• Romanian: megalit (ro) m
• Scottish Gaelic: tursa (standing stone)
• Sinhalese: මහාශිලා (mahāśilā)
• Slovene: megalit (sl)
• Spanish: megalito (es) m
• Sundanese: mégalit
• Swedish: megalit
• Turkish: megalit
• Ukrainian: мегалі́т m (mehalít)
• Vietnamese: cự thạch
• Welsh: megalith

prehistoric monument made up of one or more large stones

• Aragonese: megalito
• Azerbaijani: meqalit
• Basque: megalito
• Catalan: megàlit (ca) m
• Czech: megalit
• Danish: megalit c
• Dutch: megaliet (nl) m
• Esperanto: megalito
• Estonian: megaliit
• Finnish: megaliitti
• French: mégalithe (fr) m
• Galician: megálito (gl) m, anta (gl) m
• German: Megalith (de) m, Megalithbau m, Megalithbauwerk n
• Irish: meigilit
• Japanese: 巨石記念物 (きょせききねんぶつ, kyosekikinenbutsu)
• Korean: 거석기념물(巨石記念物) (geoseokginyeommul)
• Lithuanian: megalitas
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: megalitt m

  Nynorsk: megalitt m

• Occitan: megalit
• Portuguese: megálito m
• Russian: мегали́т (ru) m (megalít)
• Scottish Gaelic: tursa (standing stone)
• Slovak: megalit
• Spanish: megalito (es) m
• Ukrainian: мегалі́т m (mehalít)
• Vietnamese: cự thạch
• West Frisian: megalyt

large stone or block of stone used in the construction of a modern structure

• Finnish: megaliitti

See also

• Stonehenge

Further reading

• megalith on Wikipedia.Wikipedia