megalith

English

WOTD – 23 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[1] probably modelled after monolith.[2]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɡəlɪθ/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɡəˌlɪθ/
Hyphenation: meg‧a‧lith

Noun

megalith (plural megaliths)

(archaeology)
1. A large stone slab making up a prehistoric monument, or part of such a monument.
2. A prehistoric monument made up of one or more large stones.
(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)[2]
menhir
microlith
monolith

Translations

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

Afrikaans: megaliet
Arabic: جندل‎
Bengali: মেগালিথ (megalithô)
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

References

“megalith, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
“megalith, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.