graveyard

English

A graveyard in China

Etymology

From grave +‎ yard. Compare West Frisian begraafplak (“graveyard”), Dutch begraafplaats (“graveyard”), Norwegian gravplass (“graveyard”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹeɪvˌjɑɹd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

graveyard (plural graveyards)

2. A tract of land in which the dead are buried.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cemetery

3. (figuratively, by extension) A final storage place for collections of things that are no longer useful or useable.
   1. (collectible card games) The discard pile, in some trading card games.
      • 2006, John Kaufeld, Jeremy Smith, Trading Card Games For Dummies, →ISBN, page 49:

        Certain cards place other cards here because such cards might have abilities deemed too strong if they sent them to the graveyard instead.

      • 2006, Michael J. Flores, Deckade: 10 Years of Decks, Thoughts, and Theory!, →ISBN, page 235:

        If you want to be tricky, though, Rapid Decay can be a flying elbow drop out of nowhere for a surprise win against graveyard manipulation decks; they will always see a Beetles coming, remember.

      • 2015, Kinetik Gaming, Magic the Gathering Game Guide (Unofficial), →ISBN:

        When a player does discard or use a card or when a creature also died or a spell gets destroyed, that card gets placed into the player's graveyard.

   2. (sports) A team where players are sent when they are not useful, or a team where players become useless if sent there.
4. (attributively) A period very early in the morning in which there is very little activity.

   graveyard shift, graveyard slot, graveyard watch

   • 2024 January 14, Luke Winkie, “A Whale of a Time”, in Slate‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-01-17:

     Her husband, of course, came dressed as Herman Melville.) She's a veteran of these marathons, and warned me about the forthcoming graveyard stretch—when Moby-Dick melds with the altered brain chemistry of sleep deprivation.

5. (US, slang) Synonym of suicide (“beverage combining all available flavors at a soda fountain”)

Derived terms

• aircraft graveyard
• automobile graveyard
• elephants' graveyard
• flies' graveyard
• ghost in the graveyard
• graveyard chompers
• graveyard cough
• graveyard market
• graveyard-minded
• Graveyard of Empires
• graveyard of empires
• Graveyard of the Atlantic
• Graveyard of the Pacific
• graveyard orbit
• graveyard poet
• graveyard poetry
• graveyard shift
• graveyard slot
• graveyard spiral
• graveyard stew
• graveyard test
• graveyard tour
• graveyard watch
• whistle past the graveyard

 

Translations

tract of land in which the dead are buried

• Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
• Adyghe: къэхалъэ (qɛxalˢɛ), хъэхалъэ (χɛxalˢɛ) (Shapsug)
• Afrikaans: begraafplek, begraafplaas (af)
• Albanian: varrezë (sq) f
• Amharic: መካነ መቃብር (mäkanä mäḳabr), መቃብር ቦታ (mäḳabr bota)
• Antillean Creole: simityè, senmityè
• Arabic: مَقْبَرَة f (maqbara), مَقْبُرَة f (maqbura), مَدْفِن m (madfin), جَبّانة f (jabbāna), تُرْبَة (turba)

  Egyptian Arabic: مقبرة f (maqbara), جبانة f (gabbāna), ترب f (turab), مدفن m (madfan)

  Hijazi Arabic: مَقْبَرة f (magbara)

  Moroccan Arabic: مقبرة f (maqbara), روضة f (rūḍa), قبورات f (qbūrāt)

  North Levantine Arabic: مقبرة f (máʔbara)

  South Levantine Arabic: مقبرة f (máʔbara), جبانة f (jabbane, jabbana), تربة f (turbe)

• Aragonese: fosal m
• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܹܝܬ ܩܒ݂ܘܼܪܹ̈ܐ m (bēt qwure)

  Classical Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܩܒܘܪܐ m (bēṯ qḇūrē)

• Armenian: գերեզմանոց (hy) (gerezmanocʻ)
• Aromanian: chimitir n, murmintsã f, grupishti f, chimitiriu n
• Assamese: কবৰখানা (koborkhana), কবৰস্থান (koborosthan)
• Asturian: cementeriu m, campusantu m
• Azerbaijani: məzarlıq, qəbiristan
• Bashkir: зыярат (zıyarat)
• Basque: hilerri, kanposantu
• Belarusian: мо́гілкі f pl (móhilki), магі́ліцы f pl (mahílicy), цвінта́р m (cvintár) (church cemetery), мо́гільнік m (móhilʹnik)
• Bengali: কারবালা (bn) (karbala)
• Breton: bered (br) f
• Bulgarian: гро́бище (bg) n (gróbište)
• Burmese: သုသာန် (my) (su.san), သင်္ချိုင်း (my) (sanghkyuing:), တစပြင် (my) (ta.ca.prang)
• Cahuilla: kuyva'al
• Carpathian Rusyn: теметов m (temetov), цинтерь m (cynterʹ)
• Catalan: cementiri (ca) m, camp sant, tenca d'hora
• Cebuano: sementeryo, menteryo, sam-ang, lubnganan
• Chakma: please add this translation if you can
• Chamicuro: pantyon
• Chechen: кешнаш (kešnaš)
• Cherokee: ᏧᎾᏓᏂᏐᏗᎢ (tsunadanisodii)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 墳場 / 坟场 (fan⁴ coeng⁴), 公墓 (gung¹ mou⁶), 墓地 (mou⁶ dei⁶)

  Dungan: фынйүан (fɨnyüan)

  Hakka: 墓地 (mu-thi)

  Hokkien: 公墓 (zh-min-nan) (kong-bōng), 墓地 (zh-min-nan) (bō͘-tōe)

  Jin: 墳地 / 坟地 (feng¹ di³)

  Mandarin: 公墓 (zh) (gōngmù) 墓地 (zh) (mùdì), 墳地 / 坟地 (zh) (féndì)

  Xiang: 墳地 / 坟地 (fen² di⁵)

• Chuvash: ҫӑва (śăva)
• Cornish: korflan f, ynkladhva f
• Corsican: cimiteriu m, campusantu m
• Crimean Tatar: mezarlıq, qabristan
• Czech: hřbitov (cs) m, pohřebiště (cs), krchov (cs) m
• Dalmatian: čemitier m
• Danish: kirkegård (da) c (Christian), gravplads c (mainly non-Christian)
• Dupaningan Agta: libalbang
• Dutch: kerkhof (nl) n, begraafplaats (nl) f, knekelveld n
• Egyptian: (ẖrj-nṯr)
• Elfdalian: tjyörtjgard m
• Esperanto: tombejo (eo), enterigejo
• Estonian: surnuaed, kalmistu
• Faroese: kirkjugarður m
• Fijian: ibulubulu
• Finnish: hautausmaa (fi), hautuumaa (fi), kalmisto (fi)
• French: cimetière (fr) m
• Friulian: cimitieri m
• Galician: cemiterio (gl) m, camposanto (gl) m, cadavroa f, necrópole (gl) f
• Georgian: სასაფლაო (ka) (sasaplao)
• German: Friedhof (de) m, Kirchhof (de) m, Begräbnisplatz m, Gottesacker (de) m, Leichenhof m

  Pennsylvania German: Karichhof m

• Greek: κοιμητήριο (el) n (koimitírio), νεκροταφείο (el) n (nekrotafeío), κοιμητήρι (el) n (koimitíri)

  Ancient: κοιμητήριον n (koimētḗrion)

• Greenlandic: iliveqarfik
• Guaraní: tyvyty
• Gujarati: કબ્રસ્તાન n (kabrastān)
• Haitian Creole: simityè
• Hebrew: בֵּית קְבָרוֹת (he) m (béit k'varót), בֵּית עוֹלָם (he) (béit olám)
• Hindi: क़ब्रिस्तान m (qabristān), गोरिस्तान m (goristān), समाधिक्षेत्र (hi) m (samādhikṣetra)
• Hungarian: temető (hu)
• Icelandic: kirkjugarður (is) m, grafreitur (is) m
• Ido: tombeyo (io), enterigeyo
• Ilocano: sementerio
• Indonesian: pusara (id), pekuburan (id), kuburan (id), makam (id), pemakaman (id)
• Ingrian: kalmat
• Interlingua: cemeterio
• Irish: reilig f, cill f
• Italian: cimitero (it) m, camposanto (it) m, sepolcreto (it) m
• Ivatan: pamuvunan
• Jamaican Creole: simitri
• Japanese: 墓 (ja) (はか, haka), 墓地 (ja) (ぼち, bochi), 霊園 (ja) (れいえん, reien), 墓場 (ja) (はかば, hakaba), 化野 (あだしの, adashino), 墓園 (ja) (ぼえん, boen)
• Kannada: ಸ್ಮಶಾನ (kn) (smaśāna)
• Kashubian: smãtôrz m
• Kazakh: зират (zirat), бейіт (beiıt)
• Khmer: ទីប៉ាឆា (tii paachaa), ប៉ាឆា (km) (paachaa)
• Korean: 묘지(墓地) (ko) (myoji), 묘원(墓園) (ko) (myowon)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: قەبرستان (qebristan), گۆڕستان (gorristan)

  Northern Kurdish: goristan (ku) f, qebristan (ku)

• Kyrgyz: мазар (ky) (mazar), көрүстөн (ky) (körüstön)
• Ladin: curtina f
• Ladino: betahayim m, sementario m
• Lao: ປ່າຊ້າ (pā sā), ສຸສານ (su sān)
• Latin: coemeterium n, sepulcrētum n
• Latvian: kapsēta f, kapi m
• Ligurian: çementeri m, campu santu m
• Limos Kalinga: lolobnan
• Lingala: nkunda class 9/10
• Lithuanian: kapinės (lt) m
• Lombard: please add this translation if you can
• Low German: Begreefplak
• Luxembourgish: Kierfecht m
• Macedonian: гробишта (mk) n pl (grobišta)
• Maia: matmat
• Malay: pekuburan
• Malayalam: ശവക്കോട്ട (ml) (śavakkōṭṭa)
• Maltese: ċimiterju m, midfen m
• Manx: rhuillick f
• Maori: urupā, whakauenuku
• Mapudungun: eluwe, eltun, eltuwe
• Marathi: दफनभूमी (daphanbhūmī), कबरस्तान (kabrastān)
• Mari:

  Western Mari: шӹгерлӓ (šÿgerlä)

• Mirandese: semitério m
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: оршуулгын газар (oršuulgyn gazar)

• Mwani: kuzimu class 17
• Navajo: jishchááʼ, łeeh dahoʼdiiʼníiłgi
• Nepali: चिहान (cihān)
• Norman: chymetyire, chînm'tchiéthe m (Jersey)
• Northern Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Northern Mansi: ^{(please verify)} савыӈкан (savyňkan)
• Northern Sami: girkogárdi, hávdeeanan
• Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kirkegård m, gravlund (no) m, leggplass m, gravplass m

  Nynorsk: kyrkjegard m, gravlund m, gravplass m

• Occitan: cementèri (oc) m, sagrat
• Odia: ଶ୍ମଶାନ (or) (śmaśāna)
• Old Czech: břitov m
• Old English: līctūn m
• Pali: susāna n
• Pangasinan: sementerio
• Pannonian Rusyn: тeмeтoв m (temetov)
• Papiamentu: santana, graf
• Pashto: جېرګه f (jerga), قبرستان (ps) m (qabrestān), ګورستان m (gorestān), مړستون (ps) m (mëṛëstun)
• Persian:

  Dari: قَبْرِسْتَان (qabristān), گورِسْتَان (gōristān)

  Iranian Persian: قَبْرِسْتان (ğabrestân), گورِسْتان (gurestân)

• Picard: chimintière m
• Piedmontese: simiteri m
• Plautdietsch: Kjoakjhoff m, Graufhoff m, Frädhoff m
• Polish: cmentarz (pl) m, cmentarny (pl) m
• Portuguese: cemitério (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਕਬਰਸਤਾਨ m (kabrasatān)
• Quechua: ayapampa
• Rohingya: hoborstán, koborstán
• Romagnol: camsãnt m, ẓimitēri m
• Romanian: cimitir (ro) n, țintirim (ro) n (archaic)
• Romansch: santeri, santieri, sunteri
• Russian: кла́дбище (ru) n (kládbišče), кирку́т m (kirkút) (Jewish)
• Saanich: šməlq̕ʷelə
• Samoan Plantation Pidgin: matmat
• Sanskrit: श्मशान (sa) n (śmaśāna)
• Scottish Gaelic: cladh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гробље n, мезарје n, гробиштe n, пoкoпaлиштe n, гробје n, мезарлук m (Islam)

  Roman: groblje (sh) n, mezarje (sh) n, grobište (sh) n, pokopalište n, grobje n, mezarluk (sh) m (Islam)

• Sicilian: cimiciaru (scn) m, cimiteru (scn) m, campusantu (scn) m
• Silesian: smyntorz m, kyrchof m, kerchůw m
• Sinhalese: ආළාහනය (āḷāhanaya)
• Slovak: cintorín (sk) m
• Slovene: pokopališče (sl) n, britof m (informal)
• Somali: xabaalo m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kjarchob m, zakopowanišćo n

  Upper Sorbian: kěrchow m

• Spanish: cementerio (es) m, campo santo (es) m, camposanto (es) m, panteón (es) m (Andes, Caribbean, Central America, Mexico)
• Sranan Tongo: berpe, beripe
• Sundanese: pakuburan
• Swahili: makaburi
• Swedish: begravningsplats (sv) c, kyrkogård (sv) c
• Tagalog: sementeryo
• Tajik: гӯристон (güriston), қабристон (tg) (qabriston)
• Tamil: இடுகாடு (ta) (iṭukāṭu)
• Tatar: зират (tt) (zirat), каберлек (tt) (qaberlek)
• Telugu: పితృవనము (te) (pitr̥vanamu), వల్లకాడు (te) (vallakāḍu), శ్మశానము (te) (śmaśānamu), రుద్రభూమి (te) (rudrabhūmi), శ్మశానవాటిక (śmaśānavāṭika)
• Thai: ป่าช้า (th) (bpàa-cháa), สุสาน (th) (sù-sǎan), ที่ฝังศพ (tîi-fǎng-sòp)
• Tibetan: དུར་ཁྲོད (dur khrod)
• Tigre: መቓብር (mäḳʰabr)
• Tigrinya: መካነ-መቓብር (mäkanä-mäḳʰabr)
• Tocharian B: erkau
• Tok Pisin: matmat
• Turkish: mezarlık (tr), kabristan (tr), mezaristan (tr), gömütlük (tr), tahtalıköy (tr) (colloquial)
• Turkmen: mazarlyk, mazarçylyk
• Ukrainian: цви́нтар (uk) m (cvýntar), кладо́вище (uk) n (kladóvyšče), кла́довище (uk) n (kládovyšče), кладови́сько n (kladovýsʹko), гробки́ m pl (hrobký), гробови́ще (uk) n (hrobovýšče), могилки́ f pl (mohylký), кірку́т m (kirkút) (Jewish)
• Urdu: قَبْرِسْتان m (qabristān), گورِسْتان m (goristān)
• Uyghur: قەبرىستانلىق (qebristanliq), مازارلىق (mazarliq)
• Uzbek: qabriston (uz), goʻriston (uz)
• Veps: kaumišt
• Vietnamese: nghĩa trang (vi), nghĩa địa (vi), bãi tha ma (vi)
• Vilamovian: kiychhöf m
• Volapük: sepülemöp, sepülamöp (vo), funafeil, deadanöp (vo)
• Walloon: aite (wa) f, cimintire (wa) f
• Waray-Waray: sementeryo
• Wayuu: aamaka
• Welsh: claddfa, mynwent f, corfflan f
• West Frisian: tsjerkhôf (fy) n, begraafplak n
• Wolof: baameel
• Yiddish: בית־עולם m (beys-oylem), קבֿרות m (kvores), צווינטער m (tsvinter) (non-Jewish)
• Yurok: kowištewoƚ

final storage place for collections of things no longer used

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: kirkegård (da) c
• Dutch: kerkhof (nl) n
• Finnish: hautausmaa (fi)
• Greek: νεκροταφείο (el) n (nekrotafeío)
• Russian: кла́дбище (ru) n (kládbišče)
• Spanish: cementerio (es) m