Etymology

epicycle

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Today it means: A small circle whose centre is on the circumference of a larger circle; in Ptolemaic astronomy it was seen as the basis of revolution of the "seven planets", given a fixed central Earth. Full definition →

Latin epicyclus ← Ancient Greek ἐπίκυκλος
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromἐπίκυκλος
  2. Latin · derived fromepicyclus
  3. English todayepicycle

From Latin epicyclus, from Ancient Greek ἐπίκυκλος (epíkuklos), from ἐπί (epí, “upon”) + κύκλος (kúklos, “circle”). The ad hoc complication sense is a generalization from the archetype supplied by the Ptolemaic astronomy sense.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.