tomb

See also: tömb

English

Etymology

Governor John R. Tanner's tomb

From Middle English tombe, toumbe, from Old French tombe, from Latin tumba from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “a sepulchral mound, tomb, grave”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuːm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːm

Noun

tomb (plural tombs)

1. A small building (or "vault") for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. It may be partly or wholly in the ground (except for its entrance) in a cemetery, or it may be inside a church proper or in its crypt. Single tombs may be permanently sealed; those for families (or other groups) have doors for access whenever needed.
2. A pit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited; a grave.
   • Shakespeare

     As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.

3. One who keeps secrets.
   • 1912 Constance Garnett (tr.), Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Brothers Karamazov (1880) Book III, chapter 4

     I never told anyone about it. You're the first, except Ivan, of course—Ivan knows everything. He knew about it long before you. But Ivan's a tomb.

Derived terms

• disentomb
• entomb
• tombstone

Translations

small building or vault for the remains of the dead

• Arabic: قَبْر‎‎ m (qabr), ضَرِيح‎‎ m (ḍarīḥ)
• Armenian: դամբարան (hy) (dambaran)
• Aromanian: tumbã f, murmintu ?
• Bashkir: ҡәбер (qäber)
• Burmese: ဂူ (my) (gu)
• Catalan: tomba (ca) f
• Chichewa: manda
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 墳墓, 坟墓

  Mandarin: 墳墓 (zh), 坟墓 (zh) (fénmù)

• Czech: hrobka f
• Dutch: tombe (nl) f, m
• Egyptian: (qrs), (ḥꜣt)
• Esperanto: tombo
• Faliscan: cela
• Finnish: hauta (fi), hautakappeli, hautakammio (fi)
• French: tombe (fr) f, tombeau (fr) m
• Friulian: tombe f
• Galician: túmulo (gl) m
• Georgian: საფლავი (saplavi)
• German: Grabmal (de) n, Gruft (de) f
• Greek: τάφος (el) m (táfos), ταφικό μνημείο n (tafikó mnimeío)
• Hindi: क़ब्र f (qabr)
• Hungarian: sír (hu)
• Ido: tombo (io)
• Irish: tuama m
• Italian: tomba (it) f

• Japanese: 墓 (ja) (はか, haka)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 무덤 (ko) (mudeom)
• Kurdish: mezel (ku)
• Malay: makam
• Maore Comorian: kaɓuri class 5/6
• Maori: toma, toma tūpāpaku
• Mongolian: бунхан (mn) (bunhan)
• Norman: sépultuthe f (Jersey)
• Occitan: tomba f
• Persian: مزار‎‎ (fa) (mazâr), آرامگاه‎‎ (fa) (ârâmgâh),قبر‎‎ (fa) (qabr)
• Polish: grobowiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: túmulo (pt) m, tumba (pt) f, jazigo (pt) m
• Romanian: mormânt (ro) m
• Russian: гробни́ца (ru) f (grobníca)
• Sardinian: molimentu ?, morimentu ?, molumentu ?, mulimentu ?, murimentu ?
• Slovak: hrobka f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: rownišćo n, krypta f

• Spanish: tumba (es) f
• Tetum: rate
• Thai: ที่ฝังศพ (tîi-fǎng-sòp)
• Turkish: mezar (tr)
• Urdu: قبر‎‎ f (qabr)
• Vietnamese: mộ (vi), lăng tẩm (vi)
• Welsh: bedd (cy) m, beddrod m
• Zazaki: mezel (diq)

Verb

tomb (third-person singular simple present tombs, present participle tombing, simple past and past participle tombed)

1. (transitive) To bury.

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Catalan

Etymology

From tombar.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈtomp/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ˈtom/
• Homophone: tom (Central)

Noun

tomb m (plural tombs)

1. turn (change of direction)
2. turn, twist (movement around an axis)
3. turn (change of temperament or circumstance)
4. walk, stroll

Further reading

• “tomb” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.