stele

Also ste·la

[stee-lee, steel, steel, stee-lee]

noun

plural

stelai, steles 

1. an upright stone slab or pillar bearing an inscription or design and serving as a monument, marker, or the like.

2. Architecture.,  a prepared surface on the face of a building, a rock, etc., bearing an inscription or the like.

3. (in ancient Rome) a burial stone.

4. Botany.,  the central cylinder or cylinders of vascular and related tissue in the stem, root, petiole, leaf, etc., of the higher plants.

stele

/ ˈstiːlə, ˈstiːlɪ, stiːl /

noun

1. an upright stone slab or column decorated with figures or inscriptions, common in prehistoric times

2. a prepared vertical surface that has a commemorative inscription or design, esp one on the face of a building

3. the conducting tissue of the stems and roots of plants, which is in the form of a cylinder, principally containing xylem, phloem, and pericycle See also protostele siphonostele

stele

1. The central core of primary vascular tissues in the stem or root of a vascular plant, consisting of xylem and phloem together with pith.

Other Word Forms

• stelar adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of stele¹

First recorded in 1810–20; from Greek stḗlē, akin to histánai “to make stand,” Latin stāre “to stand”; stand

Word History and Origins

Origin of stele¹

C19: from Greek stēlē; related to Greek histanai to stand, Latin stāre

Example Sentences

The room’s most impressive object is a 5th century BC carved marble stele, 8 feet tall.

From Los Angeles Times

The priests were standing near a field of ancient obelisks, or stelae, which date from the 4th Century.

From BBC

In a historic agreement with the Republic of Yemen, the museum will research and temporarily care for the funerary stelae.

From BBC

The stele was illegally excavated near the ancient city of Zeugma, in what is near Gaziantep, in present-day southeastern Turkey, the police said.

From Seattle Times

Sixty-five of the artifacts are funerary stelae — stone slabs featuring carved heads — traced to the second half of the first millennium B.C. in northwest Yemen.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• gravestone 
• headstone 
• marker 
• masterpiece 
• mausoleum 
• pillar 
• shrine 
• slab 
• statue 
• stone 
• tablet 
• testament 
• tomb 
• tombstone 
• tribute