menhir

Either borrowed from French menhir, or from its etymon Breton maen-hir, compound of maen (“stone”) +‎ hir (“long”). Compare with Welsh maen hir, and Cornish men hir.^[1][2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛnhɪə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛnˌ(h)ɪ(ə)ɹ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: men‧hir

menhir (plural menhirs)

1. (archaeology) A single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times.

   Synonym: standing stone

   Hypernyms: monolith, megalith

   Hyponym: holestone

   Near-synonym: orthostat

   • 1963, Thomas Pynchon, “Confessions of Fausto Maijstral”, in V.: […], Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, pages 310–311:

     [N]o time has passed since we lived in caves, grappled with fish at the reedy shore, buried our dead with a song, with red-ochre and pulled up our dolmens, temples and menhirs and standing stones to the glory of some indeterminate god or gods, […]

   • 1980, Anthony Burgess, chapter 39, in Earthly Powers, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, London: Penguin Books, published 1981, →ISBN, page 280:

     On the coast tree ferns and pandanus palms. Inland termite menhirs seventeen feet high.

Borrowed from Breton menhir, from Breton maen-hir.

• Audio:

  (file)

menhir m (plural menhirs, diminutive menhirtje n)

1. (archaeology) menhir

Borrowed from Breton maen-hir, from maen (“stone”) +‎ hir (“tall”). Compare Cornish men hir, and Welsh maen hir.

• IPA^(key): /mɛ.niʁ/ ~ /me.niʁ/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

menhir m (plural menhirs)

1. (archaeology) menhir

• “menhir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from French menhir.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛn.xir/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnxir
• Syllabification: men‧hir

menhir m inan

1. (archaeology) menhir (single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times)

• menhir in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• menhir in PWN's encyclopedia

Borrowed from Breton menhir, from Breton maen-hir.

menhir n (plural menhire)

1. (archaeology) menhir

Borrowed from French menhir, from Breton maen-hir.

• IPA^(key): /meˈniɾ/ [meˈniɾ]
• Rhymes: -iɾ

menhir m (plural menhires)

1. (archaeology) menhir

• “menhir”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024