tomb

See also: tömb

English

Etymology

Governor John R. Tanner's tomb

Borrowing 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)
• Malay: makam
• Maore Comorian: kaɓuri class 5/6
• Maori: toma, toma tūpāpaku
• Mongolian: бунхан (mn) (bunhan)
• Norman: sépultuthe f (Jersey)
• Occitan: tomba f
• Persian: قبر‏‎ (fa) (qabr), آرامگاه‏‎ (fa) (ârâmgâh)
• 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

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.