Sandstone is a rock made of grains of sand that have been pressed and stuck together over a very long time. It is often yellow, red, or brown, and it is softer than many other building stones, so people have cut it for houses, churches, and walls for centuries. You can sometimes still see the sandy texture in the block. The word is sand + stone, from Middle English sandston, from Old English *sandstān, from Proto-West Germanic *sandastain “sandstone, chisel, gravel.” Matching words appear in nearby languages, such as Dutch zandsteen and German Sandstein. Builders like it because it is easier to shape than harder rock, though actually that also means weather can wear it down.