A prehistoric monument consisting of a circle of standing stones or wooden posts, most famously exemplified by Stonehenge.
From Old English 'hencgest' or 'hengist' (related to 'hang'), literally meaning 'hanging stones.' The word was revived by archaeologists in the 19th century, with 'henge' extracted from 'Stonehenge' as a generic term for the monument type.
Henge is a spectacular example of reverse etymology—archaeologists literally invented the word 'henge' by taking it from 'Stonehenge,' then used it to describe all similar monuments! It's one of the few modern words we created for ancient things.
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