Word origins

• -athlonContest
• AthoniteOf or related to Mount Athos in Greece or its monasteries.
• athymiaThe absence of emotion; morbid impassivity.
• atmo-Related to air or vapor.
• AtreidAny of the family and descendants of the mythical Mycenaean king Atreus, including either of his sons Menelaus and Agamemnon, who both feature in the Iliad.
• AtticismAttachment to, collaboration with, favouring of, or siding with Athens or Athenians, especially in the context of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 B.C.E.).
• autexousiousOf, pertaining to, or exercising free will; volitient.
• AutomedonAchilles' charioteer, who drove the immortal horses Balius and Xanthos, son of Diores.
• autoschediasticimpromptu, improvised, ex tempore or offhand
• bakchoiIn the Eleusinian Mysteries, the branches that initiates swung along the ground along the Sacred Way, the 22-kilometer pilgrimage from Athens to Eleusis.
• BakisA name given to the inspired prophets and dispensers of oracles who flourished in Greece from the 8th to the 6th century B.C.
• balaneionAn ancient Greek bathhouse.
• barytonesisThe shift of accent from the last syllable of a stem or word to a preceding syllable.
• basophobiaInability to walk or stand erect, due to emotional causes.
• bathy-deep, especially deep sea
• baubonA dildo.
• -bioticUsed to form adjectives describing a method of living.
• -blastan immature cell or tissue
• BoanergesA vociferous preacher or orator.
• BoedromionA month of the ancient Attic calendar, approximately September/October.
• BoikiSynonym of White Serbia.
• bothrosAn artificial hole or depression in the ground, used for washing and libations, etc. in ancient times.
• boukólos ruleA rule of the Proto-Indo-European reconstructed language that states that a labiovelar stop (*kʷ, *gʷ, *gʷʰ) dissimilates to an ordinary velar stop (*k, *g, *gʰ) next to the vowel *u or its corresponding glide *w.
• bouleuticPertaining to the curial class from which were drawn councils in Ancient Greece.
• brachy-short, brief
• brady-slow
• BrauroniaAn Ancient Greek initiation ritual for girls in Attica at Brauron, relating to the goddess Artemis.
• bregmaThe anatomical structure on the skull where the coronal suture and sagittal suture meet.
• BriseusIn the Iliad, father of the woman Briseis and the origin of her name.
• BritomartisA Greek goddess of mountains and hunting, primarily worshipped on the island of Crete.
• BromiusAn epithet of Dionysus/Bacchus, meaning "noisy", "roaring" or "boisterous".
• ButoSynonym of Wadjet.
• ByblisA daughter of Miletus who fell in love with Caunus, her twin brother.
• byssoliteAn olive-green fibrous variety of hornblende.
• cacodoxyIncorrect doctrine or opinions.
• caddichusIn ancient Sparta, a deep basin used in a form of voting or election, particularly for membership in common messes (syssitia).
• CadmeaThe citadel of ancient Thebes, Greece.
• callipygianHaving beautifully shaped buttocks.
• calotypeA talbotype.
• camptodactylyA medical condition involving fixed flexion deformity of the proximal interphalangeal joints.
• camptodromousin which the secondary veins curve toward the margins, in some cases becoming nearly parallel with them, and not reconnecting with other veins to form loops
• canephoraA caryatid supporting a basket on her head.
• capno-smoke
• -carpousHaving a specified number or type of fruit or fruiting bodies or part thereof.
• catachthonianof or relating to the underworld
• catapasmA medicinal powder used by the ancients to sprinkle on ulcers, to absorb perspiration, etc.
• cataplerosisThe removal of intermediate metabolites, especially in the citric acid cycle, to prevent their accumulation in the mitochondrial matrix.
• categiseThrash (verbally or physically).
• cathecticOf or pertaining to a connection that is charged with emotional energy.
• cathereticA mild caustic used to reduce warts and other excrescences.
• cathexisThe concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea.
• -centesisPuncture and aspiration of
• cephalophoreAny of a group of saints depicted in art carrying heads in their hands.
• CerambusA son of Euseiros (himself son of Poseidon) and the nymph Eidothea of Othreis. He offended the nymphs and was transformed into a horned beetle.
• cerastesA very flexible horned serpent in Greek legend, said to have no spine and to hide its head in the sand awaiting prey.
• CeryxA member of the Athenian royal family as the son of Hermes by either of the princesses Pandrosus and Agraulus.
• CeyxA king who was transformed into a kingfisher, together with his wife Alcyone.
• ChaldiaA region in the mountainous interior of the eastern Black Sea, northeast Anatolia (modern Turkey) in Western Asia, and inhabited by the Chaldoi or Chalybes.
• charagmaA mark or marking.
• chartophylaxAn ecclesiastical officer in charge of official documents and records in the Greek Orthodox Church in Byzantine times.
• cheletropicDescribing a pericyclic addition reaction across the terminal atoms of a fully conjugated system in which two new single bonds are formed with a single atom of the reactant.
• chiliarchA commander of a thousand troops in Hellenistic Greece.
• ChioneA daughter of Boreas, the North Wind, and Oreithyia, sister to Zetes, Calais and Cleopatra.
• chirotonyThe laying on of hands as an ecclesiastical rite
• chitoniskosA short tunic or chiton.
• chlamysA short poncho-like cloak caught up on the shoulder, worn by hunters, soldiers, and horsemen in Ancient Greece.
• chleuasmosA sarcastic reply that mocks an opponent, leaving them without an answer.
• choachytean Ancient Egyptian mortuary priest responsible for pouring libations as well as providing mortuary rituals and offerings at the tombs of the dead
• ChoiakThe fourth month of the later ancient Egyptian civil calendar and Coptic calendar, corresponding to the fourth and last month of the season of Akhet. Since 25 BCE, when the calendar was reformed to include leap-days, Choiak has been in roughly December.
• chondreSynonym of chondrule.
• chondrio-Granule, mitochondrion component.
• chondrosinA disaccharide, composed of glucuronic acid and galactosamine, present in the chondroitins
• chondrusSynonym of chondrule.
• choroideremiaAn X-linked recessive retinal degenerative disease.
• chousA squat, rounded form of oenochoe with a trefoil mouth.
• chresmographionA chamber between the pronaos and the cella in a Greek temple, where oracles were delivered.
• chrestomathA person devoted to useful learning; especially a language learner.
• -chroicProducing or changing color in a certain way.
• chromameterAn instrument that is used to evaluate the colour of surfaces
• chrono-time
• -chronousRelating to time.
• ChrysaorA son of Poseidon and Medusa and brother of the winged horse Pegasus, often depicted as a young man, who sprang along with Pegasus from the blood of the decapitated Medusa.
• chryselephantineMade of gold and ivory.
• chytraAn Ancient Greek earthenware cooking pot
• clado-clade; branches of organisms
• CleopasA male given name.
• cleruchyA form of Athenian colony in the time of Ancient Greece, under which the settlers or cleruchs retained their citizenship, and were assigned plots, or kleroi, of agricultural land, while the community remained a political dependency of Athens.
• ClymeneA nymph married to Iapetus, mother of Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius and Atlas.
• CodrusThe last of the semi-mythical kings of Athens (r. ca 1089–1068 BC), an ancient exemplar of patriotism and self-sacrifice.
• CoeusThe Titan of intelligence; the father of Leto and Asteria.
• conisterionA room in ancient Greek and Roman gymnasiums where athletes, particularly wrestlers, applied sand or dust to their bodies after being anointed with oil. This practice enhanced grip during matches by counteracting the slipperiness caused by oil and sweat.
• conistraA part of the palestra, or gymnasium: either the place where sand was stored for use in sprinkling the wrestlers, or the wrestling ground itself.
• cosmocratorA ruler of the entire world or cosmos.
• -cracyrule (in the sense of governing).
• cranidiumIn trilobites, the part of the cephalon (the head) consisting of the glabella and the fixigenae.
• CrantorA male given name from Ancient Greek, of historical usage, notably borne by Crantor of Soli.
• craspedonA border or fringe.
• -cratA participant in a specified form of government.
• crepidomaIn classical Greek architecture, the platform of (usually three) levels upon which the superstructure of the building is erected, typically forming a series of steps.
• criththe weight of 1 litre of hydrogen at standard temperature and pressure. Equal to approximately 0.09 grams.