Home › Glossary › Letter L

Limestone

Geology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A sedimentary rock commonly formed from shells and marine remains. It can evoke ancient seas, fragility, and transformation.

Detailed Definition
Limestone is a rock made largely of calcium carbonate, often formed from shells, coral, and other marine material compacted over time. In poetry, it can bring an ancient ocean into a dry field, chapel wall, or city pavement. Its origin makes it useful for linking the living and the mineral, the delicate shell and the durable cliff. Because water can dissolve limestone into caves and sinkholes, it also suggests hidden passage, vulnerability, and slow change.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Limestone cliffs rose pale above the green river” uses limestone in a clear landscape image; “The cave was carved from limestone by patient water” shows how the rock participates in geological change; A poet may write, “Limestone kept the memory of shells in its pale body,” connecting the stone to ancient marine life; “Acid rain worried the limestone statues” can support a poem about environmental harm and cultural loss
Additional Notes
Limestone commonly forms from accumulated shells, coral, and other marine material, though it can also form chemically from mineral-rich water. Its connection to ancient seas lets poets join stone with once-living bodies, transformation, caves, and fragile dissolution.
Also Known As
Calcareous Rock
Skip to main content