Gravesite

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɡɹeɪvˌsaɪt/

Definitions

1. A designated area for burying human remains is often marked with memorial objects
2. A marked plot of ground where a deceased person's body is interred
3. A specific location in a cemetery allocated for the burial of human remains

Etymology: "Gravesite" is a plain compound: "grave" joined to "site." Its first element traces back to Old English "græf," a word for a pit or trench dug in the ground, which is ultimately related to "grave" as a verb meaning to dig or carve, so the older sense was more about the excavation than the burial. Middle English shifted it toward the final resting place of a body. "Site" has a more layered past. It came into English in the Middle Ages through Anglo-Norman "site," itself from Latin "situs," meaning a position, location, or state of being placed. Latin "situs" in turn comes from the same root as "sinere," "to allow" or "to leave," so the idea underneath is simply a place where something has been set down. Put together, "gravesite" describes a spot where a grave has been set down: a location in a cemetery reserved for burial. The word is a transparent modern combination, with both halves carrying the sense of a dug place and a settled position.

Synonyms: tomb, burial site, grave