# obelisk
## English
### Etymology

From Middle French obelisque, from Latin obeliscus (“obelisk”), from Ancient Greek ὀβελίσκος (obelískos), diminutive of ὀβελός (obelós, “needle”). Compare obelus.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈɒbəlɪsk/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /ˈɔbəlɪsk/, /ˈɑbəlɪsk/

### Noun

obelisk (plural obelisks)
* (architecture) A tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument. [from mid 16th c.]
** 2012 January, Henry Petroski, “The Washington Monument”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 1, page 16:The Washington Monument is often described as an obelisk, and sometimes even as a "true obelisk," even though it is not. A true obelisk is a monolith, a pylon formed out of a single piece of stone.
* (typography) Synonym of obelus
** (historical) A symbol resembling a horizontal line (–), sometimes together with one or two dots (for example, ⨪ or ÷), which was used in ancient manuscripts and texts to mark a word or passage as doubtful or spurious, or redundant.
** A dagger symbol (†), which is used in printed matter as a reference mark to refer the reader to a footnote, marginal note, etc.; beside a person's name to indicate that the person is deceased; or beside a date to indicate that it is a person's death date.
* (virology) An RNA structure similar to a viroid, with a rod-like secondary structure, which comprises its own phylogenetic group.

#### Usage notes

Regarding sense 2, obelus was used in Middle English, but thereafter was displaced by obelisk until the 19th century when both words began to be used with equal regularity.

#### Alternative forms

* obelisc

#### Synonyms

* (architecture): aguilla, pylon, stela

#### Hypernyms

* (architecture): needle

#### Meronyms

* (architecture): pyramidion

#### Derived terms

* oblin
* obeliscal
* obeliscoid, obeliskoid
* obelisklike

#### Translations

Albanian: obelisk (sq) m
Arabic: مِسَلَّة f (misalla)
Armenian: կոթող (hy) (kotʻoġ)
Azerbaijani: obelisk
Belarusian: абелі́ск m (abjelísk)
Bulgarian: обели́ск m (obelísk)
Burmese: ကျောက်စာတိုင် (my) (kyaukcatuing)
Catalan: obelisc (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 方尖碑 (zh) (fāngjiānbēi)
Czech: obelisk (cs) m
Danish: obelisk c
Dutch: obelisk (nl) m
Egyptian: (tḫn)
Esperanto: obelisko
Estonian: obelisk (et)
Finnish: obeliski (fi)
French: obélisque (fr) m
Galician: obelisco m
Georgian: ობელისკი (obelisḳi)
German: Obelisk (de) m
Greek: οβελίσκος (el) m (ovelískos)
Hebrew: אוֹבֶּלִיסְק (he) m (obelísk)
Hindi: शिलास्तंभ m (śilāstambh)
Hungarian: obeliszk (hu)
Irish: oibilisc f
Italian: obelisco (it) m
Japanese: オベリスク (oberisuku), 方尖柱 (ほうせんちゅう, hōsenchū)
Kazakh: обелиск (obelisk)
Korean: 오벨리스크 (obelliseukeu), 방첨탑(方尖塔) (bangcheomtap)
Kyrgyz: обелиск (obelisk)
Latin: obeliscus m
Latvian: obelisks m
Lithuanian: obeliskas m
Macedonian: обелиск m (obelisk)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: obelisk m
Persian: ابلیسک (obelisk)
Polish: obelisk (pl) m
Portuguese: obelisco (pt) m
Romanian: obelisc (ro) n
Russian: обели́ск (ru) m (obelísk)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: обѐлиск m
Roman: obèlisk (sh) m
Slovak: obelisk m
Slovene: obelísk (sl) m
Spanish: obelisco (es) m
Swedish: obelisk (sv) c
Tagalog: obelisko
Tajik: обелиск (obelisk)
Turkish: obelisk (tr), dikili taş (tr), dikilitaş (tr)
Ukrainian: обелі́ск m (obelísk)
Uzbek: obelisk (uz)
Vietnamese: tượng đài :

#### See also

* menhir
* pillar

### Verb

obelisk (third-person singular simple present obelisks, present participle obelisking, simple past and past participle obelisked)
* (entomology, of a dragonfly) To adopt the obelisk posture; to point the tip of the abdomen towards the sun.
** 2004, Cynthia Berger, Dragonflies‎:Dragonflies that spend the day in full sun may obelisk to minimize the sunlight striking the body. An obelisking dragonfly looks like it's doing a headstand […]

### References

* obelisk on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* obelisk (biology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* obelisk posture on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* obelisk (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* ↑ “obelisk, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2004; “obelisk, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

## Polish
### Etymology

Borrowed from French obélisque.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɔˈbɛ.lisk/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛlisk
* Syllabification: o‧be‧lisk

### Noun

obelisk m inan (related adjective obeliskowy)
* obelisk (tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument)

#### Declension
### Further reading

* obelisk in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* obelisk in Polish dictionaries at PWN
* obelisk in PWN's encyclopedia

## Serbo-Croatian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /obělisk/
* Hyphenation: o‧be‧lisk

### Noun

obèlisk m (Cyrillic spelling обѐлиск)
* obelisk

#### Declension
## Swedish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /obɛlɪsk/
* Rhymes: -ɪsk

### Noun

obelisk c
* an obelisk

#### Declension

| | | nominative | genitive |
| singular | indefinite | obelisk | obelisks |
| singular | definite | obelisken | obeliskens |
| plural | indefinite | obelisker | obeliskers |
| plural | definite | obeliskerna | obeliskernas |

### References

* obelisk in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* obelisk in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* obelisk in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)