Word origins

• peridexionA legendary tree believed to grow in India that attracts doves and repels dragons.
• peridromophileA collector of transfers.
• peridromophilyThe collection of transfers.
• perispomeneThe circumflex ⟨◌͂⟩, a diacritical mark used in the polytonic script of Greek.
• perispomenonHaving a high-low pitch accent on the last syllable.
• peristeropodousHaving feet like those of a pigeon; said of those gallinaceous birds that rest on all four toes, such as curassows and megapodes.
• peristylosSynonym of peristyle.
• Phaedriadesthe plateau on which the city of Delphi sat near Mt. Parnassus.
• phallophoriaA ceremonial procession, in honour of Dionysus, in which a phallus is carried
• PhamenothThe seventh month of the later ancient Egyptian civil calendar and Coptic calendar, corresponding to the third month of the season of Peret. Since 25 BCE, when the calendar was reformed to include leap-days, Phamenoth has been in roughly March.
• phaneronThat which is perceived by the mind, regardless of whether it corresponds to reality.
• PhantasosThe god and personification of inanimate objects in prophetic dreams; the son of Hypnos and Pasithea, or Nyx and Erebus.
• PhaophiThe second month of the later ancient Egyptian civil calendar and Coptic calendar, corresponding to the second month of the season of Akhet. Since 25 BCE, when the calendar was reformed to include leap-days, Phaophi has been in roughly October.
• pharmaconA medicine or drug.
• pharmakosIn Ancient Greek religion, the ritualistic sacrifice or exile of a human scapegoat.
• PharmouthiThe eighth month of the later ancient Egyptian civil calendar and Coptic calendar, corresponding to the fourth and last month of the season of Peret. Since 25 BCE, when the calendar was reformed to include leap-days, Pharmouthi has been in roughly April.
• PheidippidesA runner who is said to have ran from Marathon to Athens to deliver to news of the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon, inspiring the marathon race
• phelonionA liturgical vestment worn by a priest of the Eastern Christian tradition, equivalent to the chasuble of the Western tradition.
• philoxeniaLove of strangers; eagerness to show hospitality.
• PhlegyasA king of the Lapiths
• phlyctenaA small vesicle.
• PhobetorIn Ovid's Metamorphoses, one of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep).
• phonomaniaHomicidal mania.
• PhorbasAny of numerous mythological characters. See Wikipedia article.
• phorbeiaA leather strap worn by an aulos player to avoid excessive strain on the lips and cheeks due to continuous blowing.
• -phoresistransmission or movement of particles
• phourionA fortified stronghold in the context of Ancient Greece.
• phragmaA septum, especially on the wall of the thorax of an insect.
• phragmo-obstruction, barrier
• phrontisterionA Greek educational institution that operated from 1682/3 to 1921 in Trabzon in the Ottoman Empire, now Turkey.
• phryctoriaAn ancient Greek semaphore system.
• PhthonusThe god of jealousy and envy.
• phylaxisProtection against infectious disease.
• phylloboliaIn Ancient Greece, the showering of a victorious athlete or bridal couple with leaves or flower petals.
• -phyllousHaving a specified number or kind of leaves.
• -phyteA member of a taxonomic group of plants or algae, chiefly one whose taxonomic name ends (or ended) in -phyta.
• PieridesThe Muses.
• pinakionAn ancient pinax or tablet.
• pithecoidOf or pertaining to the anthropoid apes.
• PithoigiaThe first day of the Anthesteria, when the previous year's wine jars were opened, and libations made to Dionysus.
• pithosA large ceramic jar used by certain ancient civilizations that bordered the Mediterranean.
• PittacusOne of the Seven Sages of Greece, living c. 640-568 BC. He was a native of Mytilene.
• plakousA flatbread, of Ancient Greek origin, thought to be a precursor of pizza.
• PlataeaAn ancient Greek city-state situated in Boeotia near the frontier with Attica at the foot of Mt. Cithaeron, between the mountain and the river Asopus, which divided its territory from that of Thebes.
• plectonemeA loop of helices (especially of nucleic acid) twisted together such that they cannot be separated without breaking them
• plemochoeAn Ancient Greek pottery vessel with a high foot supporting a wide bowl.
• pleonecticGreedy; covetous.
• pleonexiaExcessive or insatiable greed, avarice, covetousness, the desire to have more, a greedy desire for certain goods.
• plethysmographAn instrument for measuring changes in volume within an organ or whole body (usually via fluctuations in the amount of fluid it contains).
• plethysmometerAny instrument designed to measure small changes in volume, usually via the displacement of water
• pleuronA lateral sclerite of a thoracic segment of an arthropod between the tergum and the sternum.
• -pneabreathing, respiration
• pneumato-Relating to air.
• PnyxA hill in Athens west of the Acropolis with a stone platform and steps set into its side, which was used as the meeting place of the democratic assembly in Ancient Greece.
• -podRelated to or resembling a foot or similar limb.
• PodargeA harpy, a personification of a swift wind and the mate of Zephyrus.
• -podousfooted; having a certain number or type of feet or legs
• pogono-beard
• -poiesisproduction, creation or formation
• poiesisAn act or process of creation.
• poieticcreative, formative
• polemizeTo attack in speech or in writing.
• polhodeThe wobble of a spinning body.
• politarchA ruler or magistrate, especially one within a politocracy.
• polyandrionA mass grave or communal tomb.
• PolycaonThe son of Lelex, king of Laconia, by the Naiad nymph, Cleochareia.
• polydactylPolydactylous.
• PolymestorA king of Thrace whose wife was Ilione, the eldest daughter of King Priam.
• PolynicesThe son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia, and the older brother of Eteocles.
• polyphloisbicOf the sea, noisy, roaring, thundering.
• polyphyodontAny animal whose teeth are continuously replaced.
• polypragmonA busybody or troublemaker or someone who looks only to their own concerns.
• polypragmosyneMeddlesomeness, officiousness.
• polytypichaving several different taxa of the next lower rank, especially having several subspecies
• PortheusAn Arcadian prince killed by Zeus.
• posthe-Of the foreskin.
• pousThe Greek foot, a unit of length based on the shod foot, generally equal to 16 fingers (δάκτυλοι) or ¹⁄₆₀₀ stade (στάδια) but varying over time and location within Greece and the Hellenized world.
• praseo-green
• prelogismA word that has more recognition than a protologism but less recognition than a neologism.
• proboleA bony projection, especially the occipital protuberance of the skull.
• prochoosAn ancient Greek jug, with or without a handle, for water or wine.
• ProcrisIn Ancient Greek mythology, the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, and his wife Praxithea.
• prohairesisThe Stoic principle that people have a choice in how they judge, and are affected by, externalities.
• prohaireticRelating to prohairesis.
• promachosA deity who fights in front of, or champions, some person or state.
• propomaIn Ancient Greece, a drink served as an appetizer.
• proscynemaA formulaic inscription expressing adoration of or homage to a particular deity.
• ProsdocimusA male given name from Greek.
• proskynesisThe act of bowing down before a lord or ruler, especially in ancient Persia.
• prosoponA mask worn by an actor to indicate the character being played.
• prothesisThe prepending of phonemes at the beginning of a word without changing its morphological structure, as in Spanish esfera from Greek (via Latin) sphaera (“sphere”) (without prothesis the word would have become *sfera).
• protheticof, relating to, or involving prothesis
• protoduliaA level of veneration lower than hyperdulia given to Saint Joseph.
• protoiereusSynonym of protopresbyter.
• protologueAll the original material associated with a newly published name, comprising its description or diagnosis and any of a number of other elements such as illustrations, synonymy, etc.
• protomeA decorative element, on ancient artefacts, based on the head of an animal or bust of a person.
• protopopeA protopresbyter.
• protostatesA man positioned in front of an epistates in an Ancient Greek phalanx.
• protrepticServing to instruct; didactic.
• prytaneThe priest or chief magistrate who presided over a prytaneum.