means A hard, solid piece of mineral matter, smaller than a boulder, found loose in the earth or worked into walls, tools, and gravestones.

from From Old English 'stān,' part of a deep Germanic family — German 'Stein,' Dutch 'steen,' Old Norse 'steinn' — all tracing back to a Proto-Germanic '*stainaz.' Beyond that it likely goes to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to thicken' or 'stiffen,' the same idea that hardened milk into a curd and water into a frozen mass: stone as the world made stiff and permanent.