Meanings
plural menhirs
- archaeologyA single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times.
Near-synonym: orthostat
2 more examples
[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, […]
1963, Thomas Pynchon, “Confessions of Fausto Maijstral”, in V.: […], Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, pages 310–311On the coast tree ferns and pandanus palms. Inland termite menhirs seventeen feet high.
1980, Anthony Burgess, chapter 39, in Earthly Powers, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, London: Penguin Books, published 1981, →ISBN, page 280Synonyms: standing stone, orthostat
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna tall upright megalith; found primarily in England and northern France
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Bretonmaen-hir
- Frenchmenhir
- Englishmenhir
PIE word *méǵh₂s Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂sder.? Proto-Celtic *maginos Proto-Brythonic *maɣɨnder. Breton maen Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-rós Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-ró-s Proto-Celtic *sīros Proto-Brythonic *hirder. Breton hir Breton maen-hirbor. French menhirbor. English 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.
More words from French, Breton
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Arabic شاهد قائم
- شاهد قائمsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Basque menhir, iruinarri
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
- iruinarrisingle tall standing stone as a monument
- zutarrisingle tall standing stone as a monument
Bulgarian менхир
- менхир (menhir)single tall standing stone as a monument
Catalan menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Chinese Mandarin 立石
- 立石 (lìshí)single tall standing stone as a monument
Czech menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Danish bautasten
- bautastensingle tall standing stone as a monument
Dutch menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Esperanto menhiro
- menhirosingle tall standing stone as a monument
Estonian menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Finnish menhir, megaliitti
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
- megaliittisingle tall standing stone as a monument
French menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
German Menhir, Druidenstein
- Menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
- Druidensteinsingle tall standing stone as a monument
- Hinkelsteinsingle tall standing stone as a monument
- Hünensteinsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Greek μενίρ
- μενίρ (menír)single tall standing stone as a monument
Hebrew מנהיר
- מנהירsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Hungarian menhír, kőszál
- menhírsingle tall standing stone as a monument
- kőszálsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Indonesian menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Irish gallán
- gallánsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Italian menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Japanese メンヒル
- メンヒル (menhiru)single tall standing stone as a monument
Korean 선돌
- 선돌 (seondol)single tall standing stone as a monument
Lithuanian menhyras
- menhyrassingle tall standing stone as a monument
Malay menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Persian سنگافراشت
- سنگافراشتsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Polish menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Portuguese menir
- menirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Romanian menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Russian менги́р
- менги́р (mengír)single tall standing stone as a monument
Scottish Gaelic tursa
- tursasingle tall standing stone as a monument
Slovak menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Spanish menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Swedish bautasten, rest sten
- bautastensingle tall standing stone as a monument
- rest stensingle tall standing stone as a monument
Tagalog nakatayong bato
- nakatayong batosingle tall standing stone as a monument
Tamil குத்துக்கல்
- குத்துக்கல் (kuttukkal)single tall standing stone as a monument
Turkish menhir
- menhirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Ukrainian менгі́р
- менгі́р (menhír)single tall standing stone as a monument
Welsh maen hir
- maen hirsingle tall standing stone as a monument
Cite this entry
menhir. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/menhir
“menhir.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/menhir. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “menhir,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/menhir.
Source: menhir on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.