monolith

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*mey-“little, small”
2. Ancient Greek · derived fromμονόλιθος“made from a single block of stone”
3. Latin · borrowed frommonolithus“made from a single block of stone”
4. Middle French · derived frommonolythe“made from a single block of stone”
5. French · borrowed frommonolithe“object made from a single block of stone”
6. English todaymonolith

The noun is borrowed from French monolithe (“object made from a single block of stone”), from Middle French monolythe (“made from a single block of stone”) (rare), and from their etymon Latin monolithus (“made from a single block of stone”), from Ancient Greek μονόλιθος (monólithos, “made from a single block of stone”), from μονο- (mono-, prefix meaning ‘alone; single’) (from μόνος (mónos, “alone; only, unique”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“little, small”)) + λίθος (líthos, “a stone; stone as a substance”); analysable as mono- + -lith. The English word is cognate with German monolith (“made from a single block of stone”). The verb is derived from the noun. Noun sense 5 (“a heightist woman”) is a parodic reference to the common adage that "women aren't a monolith".

Words from the same roots