tomb

See also: tömb

English

Etymology

Governor John R. Tanner's tomb

From Middle English tombe, toumbe, borrowed 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”).

The verb is from Middle English tomben.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tuːm/　
• (US) IPA^(key): /tum/

• 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.
   • c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene v]:

     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

Descendants

• → Irish: tuama
• → Maori: toma

Translations

small building or vault for the remains of the dead

• Albanian: varr (sq) m
• Arabic: قَبْر‎ (ar) m (qabr), ضَرِيح‎ m (ḍarīḥ)

  Egyptian Arabic: تربة‎ m (turba)

  Moroccan Arabic: قبر‎ m (qbar)

• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܩܲܒ݂ܪܵܐ‎ m (qaḇrāʾ)

  Turoyo: ܩܰܘܪܳܐ‎ m (qawro)

• Armenian: դամբարան (hy) (dambaran)
• Aromanian: tumbã f, murmintu m
• Azerbaijani: məzar
• Bashkir: ҡәбер (qäber)
• Belarusian: грабні́ца f (hrabníca), магі́льня f (mahílʹnja)
• Bulgarian: гробни́ца (bg) f (grobníca)
• Burmese: ဂူ (my) (gu)
• Catalan: tomba (ca) f
• Chichewa: manda
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 墳墓, 坟墓 (fan⁴ mou⁶)

  Mandarin: 墳墓 (zh), 坟墓 (zh) (fénmù), 墓葬 (zh) (mùzàng), 宅兆 (zh) (zháizhào)

• Czech: hrobka (cs) f
• Dutch: tombe (nl) f or m
• Egyptian: (qrs), (ḥꜣt), (mꜥḥꜥt f)
• Esperanto: tombo (eo)
• Faliscan: cela
• Finnish: hauta (fi), hautakappeli (fi), hautakammio (fi)
• French: tombe (fr) f, tombeau (fr) m
• Friulian: tombe f
• Galician: túmulo (gl) m, sepulcro m, tumba f
• Georgian: საფლავი (ka) (saplavi)
• German: Grabmal (de) n, Gruft (de) f
• Greek: τάφος (el) m (táfos), ταφικό μνημείο n (tafikó mnimeío)

  Ancient: τύμβος m (túmbos)

• Hindi: क़ब्र f (qabr)
• Hungarian: sír (hu)
• Ido: tombo (io)
• Irish: tuama m
• Italian: tomba (it) f
• Japanese: 墓 (ja) (はか, haka), 墳墓 (ja) (ふんぼ, funbo)

• Kazakh: қабір (qabir)
• Khmer: ផ្នូរ (km) (phnou), លេណក (leenɑk)
• Korean: 무덤 (ko) (mudeom), 분묘 (ko) (bunmyo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: mezel (ku)

• Kyrgyz: мүрзө (ky) (mürzö)
• Lao: ຂຸມຝັງສົບ (khum fang sop), ຂຸມຜີ (khum phī), ຂຸມເຮ່ວ (khum hē wa)
• Latin: bustum n
• Macedonian: гробница f (grobnica)
• Malay: makam (ms)
• Maore Comorian: kaɓuri 5 or 6
• Maori: toma, toma tūpāpaku
• Mongolian: бунхан (mn) (bunkhan)
• 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), склеп (ru) m (sklep)
• Sardinian: molimentu ?, morimentu ?, molumentu ?, mulimentu ?, murimentu ?
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гро̏бница f

  Roman: grȍbnica (sh) f

• Slovak: hrobka (sk) f
• Slovene: grobnica (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: rownišćo n, krypta f

• Spanish: tumba (es) f
• Tajik: мақбара (maqbara), қабр (tg) (qabr)
• Tetum: rate
• Thai: ที่ฝังศพ (tîi-fǎng-sòp)
• Turkish: mezar (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎃𐎌𐎚 (ḫšt)
• Ukrainian: гробни́ця (uk) f (hrobnýcja)
• Urdu: قبر‎ f (qabr)
• Uzbek: maqbara (uz), qabr (uz)
• Vietnamese: mộ (vi), lăng tẩm (vi), phần mộ (vi)
• Walloon: tombe (wa) f
• Welsh: bedd (cy) m, beddrod m
• Yámana: wannače
• 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

Derived terms

• venir a tomb

Further reading

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

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Middle English

Noun

tomb (plural tombes)

1. Alternative form of tombe (“tomb”)