stele

Meaning

Noun

• An upright (or formerly upright) slab containing engraved or painted decorations or inscriptions; a stela.
• Any carved or engraved surface.
• An acroterion, the decoration on the ridge of an ancient Greek building such as a temple.
• The central core of a plant's root and stem system, especially including the vascular tissue and developed from the plerome.

Related

Similar words

• stela

Origin

• A parallel etymology to stale, distinguished via ablaut.
• From Ancient Greek στήλη ("upright rock; pillar; column"), plural form στῆλαι.
• From 1886 French stèle, from Ancient Greek στήλη ("upright rock; pillar; column").