Word origins

• psiloiThe light infantry of an Ancient Greek army, usually acting as skirmishers and missile troops.
• psilosisThe sound change by which Greek lost the consonant sound /h/ during antiquity, h-dropping.
• psomophagyThe condition of not chewing food before swallowing it.
• psychostasiaThe weighing of souls, as a form of judgment of people's worth.
• psykterAn Ancient Greek pot with a bulbous body set on a high, narrow foot, used as a wine cooler.
• -pterwing
• pteromaA walkway, in a Greek or Roman temple, between the cella and surrounding colonnade.
• ptyalizeTo spit.
• pygianPertaining to or resembling buttocks.
• pyknonThe lower part of a tetrachord in Ancient Greek music, consisting of a composite interval (two successive intervals) that is less than the remaining (incomposite) interval.
• PyreneusA king of Thrace.
• PyroeisThe god of the wandering star Ἄρειος (Áreios), or planet Mars
• pyroleterA fire-extinguishing chemical apparatus by which carbonic acid is generated and thrown on the fire.
• raphiaSynonym of Rafah (spelling used when referring to the site in Antiquity: Ancient and Classical Eras) A town in Levant, frequently disputed between various ancient empires, Egypt (Pharonic, Ptolemaic, etc), Anatolia (Hittite, etc), Mesopotamia (Assyria, Seleucid, etc). The city is now located on the border between Gaza and Egypt, split between the two by an international border.
• regmaA kind of dry fruit, consisting of three or more cells, each of which eventually breaks open at the inner angle.
• rhabdo-rod, rod-like
• rhagonA form of sponge with clustered spherical flagellated endodermal chambers.
• rhamphoidOf a cusp: defined by the equation (y-x²)²=x⁵, which is parametrized by (t²,t⁴+t⁵); having two branches with concavity in the same direction.
• rhapsodeOne who performs the poetry of a poet for an audience; not necessarily a writer of poetry.
• rhapsoidosA rhapsode.
• rhasonThe clerical garb worn in the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches.
• rhegmaA rupture or fracture.
• rhemeThe part of a sentence that provides new information regarding the current theme.
• Rhenethe paramour of King Oïleus of Locris and the mother of either or neither of his sons Medon and Ajax.
• rhesisA passage of text in a play.
• rhipidionIn the Greek Church, the eucharistic fan or flabellum.
• rhipidiumA scorpioid cyme whose successive pedicels follow a zigzag path on the same plane.
• rhizomaticResembling or related to a rhizome.
• rhombosA musical instrument used in ancient mystical ceremonies, whirled to producing a roaring sound.
• rhomphaiaA large, broad sword used by the Thracians.
• rhytiphobiaThe fear of getting wrinkles.
• -rrheaflowing.
• SabaziosA god of the Phrygians and Thracians, depicted on horseback wielding a staff of power.
• salinonA particular figure bounded by four semicircles.
• sampiThe obsolete Greek letter Ϡ, ϡ (s).
• sapro-forms terms relating to dead or decaying material
• sarothrumAny of the stiff hairs on a bee that collect pollen.
• satrapyThe territory governed by a satrap; a province of any of several ancient empires of West Asia (specifically, of the Median or Achaemenid empires or certain of their successors, including the Sasanian Empire and Hellenistic empires).
• SauromaticSarmatian.
• scepsisSkepticism; a skeptical approach or belief.
• SchediusVarious figures in Greek mythology; see Wikipedia article.
• schedographyA method of grammar education used in the Byzantine Empire from around 1000 to the 13th century.
• schindylesisA form of articulation in which one bone is received into a groove or slit in another.
• schoinionA Byzantine unit equal to 20,000 Greek feet or 33⅓ stades.
• scia-Forms words related to shade.
• scolexThe structure at the front end of a tapeworm which, in the adult, has suckers and hooks by which it attaches itself to a host.
• scoliograpticOf or relating to scoliography, the description, measurement, or representation of scoliosis.
• scolionAny of a genre of songs sung in turn by symposiasts to the accompaniment of a lyre.
• scotodiniaA form of vertigo involving sudden dizziness, headache, and blurred vision
• sebastophantA person who carried images and symbols in processions of the imperial cult of Ancient Rome.
• seleno-Relating to the Moon
• selenophobiaAn abnormal or irrational fear of the Moon.
• semeionA unit of time, a division of a foot; a mora.
• SiceliotA member of the colonies of immigrant Greeks in Sicily, who gradually became assimilated with the native Siculi.
• sikinnisA dance performed in Ancient Greek satyr plays.
• siphono-Forming compound terms pertaining to siphons or tubes.
• skaddonThe larva of a bee.
• skeuomorphA design feature copied from a similar feature in another object, even when not functionally necessary.
• skiamorphSynonym of skeuomorph.
• skoposThe function of a written or spoken text, especially in the context of translating and interpreting.
• skufiaA soft-sided brimless cap of various shapes, worn by clergy or monastics.
• skyphosA deep two-handled wine cup of Ancient Greece.
• solecizeTo commit a solecism.
• sophumerA student in the second year of a four-year college.
• sossosA quantity of 60, such as a period of 60 years.
• SothisA star given great significance by the Ancient Egyptians, believed to be Sirius by modern scholars.
• SozusaA byname of several ancient cities linked to the sun-god Apollo.
• sperma-Of or relating to sperm.
• -spermicHaving or relating to a medical condition in -spermia
• -spermousHaving a specified number or type of seeds.
• sphendoneAn Ancient Greek headband worn by women.
• spintherismphotopsia
• SpioOne of the Nereids.
• spithameThe span of a human hand, as a unit of measure in Ancient Greece.
• stagmaA distilled liquid.
• stamnosAn Ancient Greek pottery container used to store liquids. It is more squat than an amphora, and has handles.
• stathmosA day's military march.
• stavrotheotokionA hymn to Mary, the Theotokos, that refers to the crucifixion of Christ.
• stenochoriaLack of land, a reason for Greek colonization in ancient times.
• stichosA line of ordinary length in a manuscript.
• stigmeA dot used as a punctuation mark in historical Greek texts, especially at the top of the line, equivalent to a period or full stop.
• StilbonThe god of the wandering star Hermaon, or planet Mercury
• stoich.Denotes that the inscription it annotates contains the specified number of letters per row.
• stratioteA small landowner who had an obligation of military service in time of war.
• stratocracyA military government.
• stratocratOne who governs or leads others through military force, or on account of their position as a military officer.
• StrephonA male lover.
• -strophyUsed to form nouns indicating a turn or twist of the indicated kind
• -stylecolumn(s); forming adjectives
• StymfaliaA village and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece.
• synalephaThe suppression of a vowel at the end of word when it is followed by another word beginning with a vowel.
• synamphoteronA composite.
• synapteA litany in the Greek church.
• synapto-synapse
• synarchyJoint rule or sovereignty.
• synaxarionA compilation of hagiographies in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, corresponding roughly to the martyrology of the Roman Church.
• syncraticOf a decision, made jointly instead of individually.
• syndyasticrelated to coupleship, the requirement to realize intimacy with a partner
• syneisaktismThe practice, from early Christian until mediaeval times, of a man and woman living together in a non-legalised relationship while observing vows of chastity.
• synesisA grammatical construction in which a word takes the gender or number not of the word with which it should regularly agree, but of some other implied word.