gnathonic

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromγνάθος“jaw”
2. Medieval Latin · borrowed fromGnathōnicus
3. English todaygnathonic

Borrowed from Medieval Latin Gnathōnicus, from Gnathō (genitive Gnathōnis), name of a parasitical character in the Eunuchus of Terence. Gnathō is from Ancient Greek γνάθος (gnáthos, “jaw”), used in the genitive γνάθου (gnáthou, “of a jaw”) to mean “greedy”; hence, a parasite in general.

Words from the same roots