tomb

See also: Tomb and 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 (date written), 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, [Act III, scene v]:

     As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.

3. One who keeps secrets.
   • 1912, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, The Brothers Karamazov, published 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

• altar tomb
• beehive tomb
• disentomb
• entomb
• from the womb to the tomb
• from womb to tomb
• passage tomb
• Severn-Cotswold tomb
• silent as the tomb
• tomb bat
• tombless
• tomblike
• tombstone
• wedge tomb

 

Descendants

• → Irish: tuama
• → Maori: toma

Translations

small building or vault for the remains of the dead

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

  Egyptian Arabic: تربة m (turba)

  Hijazi Arabic: قَبُر m (gabur), ضَريح m (ḍarīḥ)

  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, məqbərə
• Bashkir: ҡәбер (qəber)
• Belarusian: грабні́ца f (hrabníca), магі́льня f (mahílʹnja)
• Bengali: কবর (bn) (kobor), সমাধি (bn) (śomadhi)
• 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／坟墓 (zh) (fénmù), 墓葬 (zh) (mùzàng), 宅兆 (zh) (zháizhào)

• Czech: hrobka (cs) f
• Danish: grav (da) c, gravkammer n
• Dutch: tombe (nl) f or m
• Egyptian: (qrs), (ḥꜣt), (mꜥḥꜥt f)
• Esperanto: tombo (eo)
• Estonian: hauakamber
• 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)

• Haitian Creole: tonm
• Hindi: क़ब्र f (qabr), समाधि (hi) (samādhi)
• Hungarian: sír (hu), síremlék (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 (qabır), мазар (mazar), мола (mola)
• Khmer: ផ្នូរ (km) (phnou), លេណក (leinɑk)
• Korean: 무덤 (ko) (mudeom), 분묘(墳墓) (ko) (bunmyo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: mezel (ku)

• Kyrgyz: мүрзө (ky) (mürzö)
• Lao: ຂຸມຝັງສົບ (khum fang sop), ຂຸມຜີ (khum phī), ຂຸມເຮ່ວ (khum hē wa)
• Latin: tumba f, conditorium n, bustum n
• Macedonian: гробница f (grobnica)
• Malay: makam (ms)
• Maore Comorian: kaɓuri class 5/6
• Maori: toma, toma tūpāpaku
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: бунхан (mn) (bunxan)

• Norman: sépultuthe f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gravkammer n

• Occitan: tomba (oc) f
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: مَزار (fa) (mazâr), آرامْگاه (fa) (ârâmgâh), قَبْر (fa) (ğabr), مَقْبَرِه (fa) (mağbare)

• Polish: grobowiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: túmulo (pt) m, tumba (pt) f, jazigo (pt) m
• Romanian: mormânt (ro) n
• 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), мазор (mazor), мазар (mazar)
• Tarifit: anḍer m
• Tetum: rate
• Thai: ที่ฝังศพ (tîi-fǎng-sòp)
• Turkish: mezar (tr)
• Turkmen: mazar, gubur
• Ugaritic: 𐎃𐎌𐎚 (ḫšt)
• Ukrainian: гробни́ця (uk) f (hrobnýcja)
• Urdu: قَبْر f (qabr), مَزار f (mazār), مَدْفَن m (madfan), مَقْبَرَہ m (maqbara), مَرْقَد m (marqad)
• Uyghur: قەبرە (qebre)
• Uzbek: maqbara (uz), qabr (uz)
• Vietnamese: mộ (vi), lăng tẩm (vi), phần mộ (vi)
• Walloon: tombe (wa) f
• Welsh: bedd (cy) m, beddrod (cy) m
• Yámana: wannače
• Zazaki: mezel, qub

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To bury.

Catalan

Etymology

Deverbal from tombar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈtom]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈtomp]
• 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

• tomballar
• venir a tomb

Further reading

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

Middle English

Noun

tomb (plural tombes)

1. Alternative form of tombe (“tomb”)