Word origins

• adamancyThe property of being adamant.
• adamantoidA crystal characterized by being bound by 48 equal triangles; a hexoctahedron.
• adelasterA provisional name for a plant which has not had its flowers botanically examined, and therefore has not been referred to its proper genus.
• adelocodonicApplied to hydroids' sexual zooids that have a saclike form and do not become free.
• AdelophagiAn obscure Christian sect, possibly from the 4th century, which held prohibitions about eating in front of others, either commanding their followers to eat alone or isolate from those not in their sect.
• adelphophagyThe consumption of one embryo by another in utero, particularly among certain amphibians, sharks and fishes.
• adelphotaxonA sister taxon.
• adelphousHaving coalescent or clustered filaments.
• adeniformShaped like a gland
• adeno-gland
• adenocysticRelating to adenocystomas
• adermatoglyphiaThe absence of epidermal ridges (fingerprints and toeprints).
• adesmyThe division or defective coherence of an organ that is usually whole.
• AdiabeneAn ancient kingdom in Assyria, with its capital at Arbela.
• adianoetaAn expression intended to be understood one way by part of the audience and in an opposing way by another part.
• adiaphoriststhe followers of Phillip Melancthon's doctrines of Lutheranism, especially regarding the Lutheran's adoption of the Interim of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
• adiaphoronA matter that is morally neutral.
• adiaphoryindifference
• -adicHaving a specified adicity.
• adipsiaAbsence of thirst.
• AdoniaAn annual festival celebrated by women in ancient Greece to mourn the death of Adonis, the consort of Aphrodite.
• AdonicOf or pertaining to Adonis.
• AeacidA descendant of King Aeacus.
• ædœologyStudy of human genitalia.
• aegagrusThe wild goat Capra aegagrus.
• Aegean SeaA sea in the northeastern part of the Mediterranean.
• AegeusA character in the founding myth of Athens.
• AeoliaAeolis.
• aeolo-In continuous change.
• aeonologyThe Gnostic study of aeons.
• aero-air or aircraft
• aeroceleAn air-filled cavity
• aerocolposVaginal gas; air or gas trapped in the vagina.
• aerohydrousComposed of or containing air and water.
• AeropeThe daughter of Catreus, king of Crete, and sister to Clymene, Apemosyne and Althaemenes. Catreus gave her to Nauplius, to be drowned or sold abroad, but Nauplius spared her.
• aeroscepsisThe observation or examination of the air via specialized organs.
• aeroscepsyThe ability to perceive the state of the atmosphere.
• aesthesio-Pertaining to sensation or perception
• aesthesodicsensory
• aetheogamA cryptogam; a plant of the obsolete taxonomic class Cryptogamia, having neither stamina nor pistils, and therefore no proper flowers, such as an alga, fern, fungus, lichen or moss.
• aethrioscopeA device for measuring temperature variations due to different atmospheric conditions, such as cloud or clear skies.
• aetiogenesisThe origin and development of a pathological condition (other than an illness)
• afrothereAn afrotherian.
• afrotherianBelonging or pertaining to the superorder Afrotheria, which includes the elephants, aardvarks, golden moles, tenrecs, etc.
• afterthinkTo think about after the fact, reflect on.
• agalmatoliteA soft, compact stone, of a grayish, greenish, or yellowish color, which was used in China for carvings in pagodas. It is probably a variety of pinite.
• agalmicsThe study and practice of the production and allocation of non-scarce goods.
• agamogenesisAsexual reproduction.
• agathismThe doctrine that the ultimate end of all things is good, although the intermediate means may be evil.
• agathistA person who believes in agathism.
• agathokakologicalComposed of both good and evil.
• age-duringEternal, everlasting.
• agennesisImpotence; sterility.
• agerasiaAn outward appearance more youthful than one's true age.
• ageusiaAbsence of the sense of taste.
• agmatoploidyThe fragmentation of one or more chromosomes (particularly all chromosomes), leading to an increased chromosome number but no additional genetic material.
• agnathAn agnathan.
• agnathaAn agnathan.
• agnathanBelonging or pertaining to the superclass Agnatha, the jawless vertebrates.
• agnathiaA birth defect in which the mandible is missing.
• agnathicJawless.
• agnoiologyThe study of things of which cannot be known.
• agnomicalOf or pertaining to the absence of set purpose or intention.
• agnosisEpistemologically necessary lack of, indifference to, denial or shunning of knowledge; defective knowledge.
• agnosopsiaSynonym of blindsight.
• agnus castusA tree, Vitex agnus-castus, formerly believed to preserve chastity.
• -agogueSomething that stimulates a flow such as secretion or circulation.
• agomphioustoothless
• agonophiliaA type of paraphilia or sexual interest characterized by arousal from acts of struggling, fighting, or pretending to resist before being overpowered.
• agorismA revolutionary political philosophy that advocates the creation of a voluntaryist society by means of counter-economics (i.e. black market).
• agoristOf, supporting, relating to, or advocating agorism.
• agosticDescribing a structure in which a hydrogen atom is bonded to both a carbon (or silicon) atom and a metal atom in a three-center, two-electron interaction.
• agrionAny of several damselflies of the genus Calopteryx (syn. Agrion).
• agrostographyThe scientific description of grasses.
• agrostologyThe scientific study of grasses.
• agyriaThe smooth appearance of the brain in cases of lissencephaly.
• aichmophobiaThe fear of needles and other pointed or sharp objects.
• aidoiomaniaErotomania.
• aidosshame, modesty, or humility, regarded as a virtue in Ancient Greece
• aigialosaurAny member of the family †Aigialosauridae of extinct semi-aquatic varanoid lizards.
• ailurophileA person with ailurophilia; a cat-lover.
• ailurophiliaA fondness or love for cats or other felines.
• ailurophiliacAppropriate or pleasing to ailurophiles.
• aithochrousreddish-brown, ruddy
• AkademeiaA grove near Athens (named after the Athenian hero Akademos), where Plato founded his original Akademia in 385 B.C.
• AkhaioiThe Achaeans.
• akiosexualSynonym of lithsexual
• akrochorditeA monoclinic-prismatic reddish brown mineral containing arsenic, hydrogen, magnesium, manganese, and oxygen.
• akroposthionThe tip of the foreskin which extends beyond the glans.
• alectoromachycockfighting
• alectryomachyCockfighting
• alectryomancerA practitioner of alectryomancy.
• alectryomanticOf or pertaining to alectryomancy.
• alektorophobiaThe fear of chickens.
• alethicOf or pertaining to the various modalities of truth, such as the possibility or impossibility of something being true.
• alethiologyThe branch of logic dealing with truth and error.
• aletho-true, truth
• alethonymThe true name of a person.
• alethoscopeAn instrument, invented in the 1860s, for viewing magnified pictures by means of a single lens inside a box. By varying the intensity of the light, the same picture can be shown as "daytime" or "nighttime".
• aletophyteAny plant that grows by the wayside or where the natural vegetation has been disrupted.