Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “headstone” come from?

Headstone comes from Middle English hedston, combining head and stone, with stone deriving from Old English stān and ultimately Proto-Indo-European steh₂-, meaning to stand or be firm.

headstone (English): A gravestone, a grave marker: a monument...

Definitions

  1. A gravestone, a grave marker: a monument...

Ancestry of “headstone”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishheadThe part of the body of an animal or human which...
2English-yAdded to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives...
3Middle English-yDesignates an adjective, in many cases formed by...
4Old English-iġ-y, -ic
5Proto-West Germanic-gForms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a...
6Proto-Germanic-gaz-y
7Proto-Indo-European-ḱos-y, -ic

Words derived from “headstone”

  • headstoned
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →