Etymology

apotropaic

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Today it means: Intended to ward off evil. Full definition →

First used 1883Ancient Greek ἀποτρόπαιος
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · borrowed fromἀποτρόπαιος
  2. English todayapotropaic

From Ancient Greek ἀποτρόπαιος (apotrópaios), from ἀπό (apó, “away”) and τρόπος (trópos, “turn”); thus meaning “causing things to turn away”, as in “turns away evil”.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1883 Intended to ward off evil.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.