Word origins

• agelastOne who never laughs (especially at jokes); a mirthless person.
• agoranomosAn elected overseer of the marketplace in the cities of Ancient Greece and the Byzantine Empire.
• agrypniaPersistent loss of sleep; insomnia; sleeplessness.
• ainoilauds; a prayer service following matins
• akrasiaLack of physical or (especially) mental strength; poor willpower; also, the tendency to act contrary to one's better judgment; (countable) an instance of this.
• alabastronA kind of ancient pottery vase used for holding oils, and originally made from alabaster.
• alalaA crow native to Hawaii, of species Corvus hawaiiensis.
• allœoticCapable of causing allœosis; alterative.
• alphitomancyAn Ancient Greek method of divination using barley meal, used for instance to reveal guilty parties; it entailed feeding a person or group barley meal, and judging those who felt no effects to be innocent, while judging those who felt indigestion to be guilty.
• ambixSynonym of alembic.
• amphi-Located on the opposite side of, or referring to two distinct sides or ends of a region or object.
• amphicoelousHaving both ends concave; biconcave.
• amphictyonyA religious foundation or co-operative shared between Greek city states during the classical period, typically to support the temple or cult of a deity shared by the city states. Also used academically to refer to similar arrangements in non-Greek cultures.
• amphoriskosA two-handled jar anciently used to hold perfume, etc.
• anabaticrising (up a slope)
• anagnorisisThe moment in the plot of a drama in which the hero makes a discovery that explains previously unexplained events or situations; a denouement.
• analemmaA figure-eight curve that results when the Sun's position in the sky is plotted out over the year at the same hour of mean solar time every day.
• anapodotonA special kind of ellipsis in which a main clause implied by a subordinate clause is left out.
• anasyrmaThe gesture of lifting up the skirt or kilt to expose the buttocks or genitalia.
• anerithmon gelasmaThe "uncountable laughter" of ocean waves sparkling in sunlight.
• anesisRemission of disease symptoms.
• angio-vessel; relating to blood vessels, lymph vessels, or both.
• anthorismA description or definition contrary to that which is given by the opposing party.
• anthropopeiaScientific enquiry aimed at the deduction of the laws that regulate the interactions of the anatomical, biological, and psychological elements of human physiology.
• antichthonA hypothetical Earth on the opposite side of the Sun.
• antiptosisSubstitution of one grammatical case for another.
• antirrhesisA discrediting or rejection of an authority.
• antistasisThe repetition of a word in an opposing sense.
• AoedeOne of the three original Boeotian muses, the muse of voice and song.
• aphesisThe loss of the initial unstressed vowel of a word.
• apheticOf, relating to, or formed by aphesis.
• ApollinApollo, the son of Zeus.
• apotelesmaticRelating to the casting of horoscopes.
• askosAn Ancient Greek pottery vessel used to pour small quantities of liquids such as oil.
• astrothesiaA vivid description of stars.
• AthenaisA female given name.
• auto-Reflexive, regarding or to oneself.
• babaxAny of four species of passerine birds within the genus Pterorhinus in the laughingthrush family Leiothrichidae.
• bouleuterionA building in Ancient Greece, housing the boule (council of citizens), where public affairs were discussed.
• boustrophedonText written such that its direction alternates on each line, resulting in a continuous stream of characters spanning multiple lines; frequently also involving the corresponding alternation of letter directionality using mirrored letters, indicating the direction of the text at any given point.
• brekekekexNonsense word supposedly imitative of frogs.
• -cardiaForms nouns relating to a heart condition.
• cardio-Relating to the heart.
• catagelophobiaFear of being ridiculed
• catapelticPertaining to a catapult or catapults.
• chao-Chaos.
• choregicOf or relating to a choregus.
• chronographiaVivid representation of a certain historical or recurring time (such as a season) to create an illusion of reality.
• chytridAny fungus of the phylum Chytridiomycota.
• codeiaSynonym of codeine.
• cryo-cold, freezing
• cynegeticOf or relating to hunting (especially with dogs).
• CynosargesAn ancient Greek temple of Heracles, public gymnasium, and surrounding grove located just outside the walls of ancient Athens.
• cyto-cell.
• dasy pneumaSynonym of rough breathing.
• dendrographiaCreating an illusion of reality through vivid description of a tree.
• dermaticOf or relating to the skin.
• diadochusAny of the rival families who fought for control over Alexander the Great's empire after his death.
• diegeticOf or relating to diegesis; existing within a fictional universe (rather than as background), and able to be perceived by the characters.
• docimasyThe art by which the nature and proportions of an ore are determined; assaying.
• dodecarchA member of a group of twelve rulers
• dysmetriaAn inability to control or to limit muscular movement.
• eccyclemaA wheeled device, used in ancient Greek plays, that could be rolled out to allow a tableau to be viewed.
• echemeA unit of sound produced by insects that can be broken down into multiple physically more basic sound units (syllables).
• eclipsisAn omission of words needed to fully express the sense of a phrase.
• ecthlipsisThe dropping out or suppression of a consonant from a word, with or without a vowel.
• elytronA sheath or outer covering, especially around the spinal cord or over the hindwings of certain insects.
• emptysisHemorrhage from the lungs.
• encephalonThe area of central nervous system that includes all higher nervous centers, enclosed within the skull and continuous with the spinal cord; synonym of brain.
• endeixisA legal procedure in Ancient Greece in which a wrongdoer is denounced to the magistrate.
• epanastropheAnadiplosis.
• ephelcysticBeing or relating to the movable nu.
• epiclesisA prayer invoking the Holy Spirit, especially one offered in the liturgical context of the Eucharist so as to change the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus.
• epizeugmaA type of zeugma in which a single verb governs two or more clauses or phrases, placed either at the very beginning or the very end of the sentence.
• epizeuxisThe repetition of words in immediate succession for emphasis.
• erastesAn adult man who loved or was in a pedagogic relationship with an adolescent boy.
• eromenosAn adolescent boy who was loved by an older man, or was in an pedagogic relationship with him.
• eteo-Denoting an ancient or ancestral language (or form of a language), dating from a time before it came into contact with another language; particularly one which had considerable influence, or which later displaced it entirely.
• eudaimoniaIn Aristotelian ethics, a condition of living a life of the highest virtue; the state of human flourishing, which is desirable in and of itself, rather than as a means towards some other end.
• exegeticOf or pertaining to exegesis; exegetical; explanatory; interpretive.
• gelotophobiaAn abnormal and persistent fear of being laughed at.
• GerrhaAn ancient city on the Persian Gulf, in modern-day Saudi Arabia.
• gigantomachyThe battle of the Giants (offspring of Gaia, according to Hesiod conceived from the spilt blood of Uranus) against the Olympian gods.
• gleneThe pupil or eyeball.
• -gramSomething written, drawn or otherwise recorded.
• -graphiaForms names of writing impairments.
• gyno-Of or pertaining to women.
• hado-Of or relating to the deepest parts of the ocean.
• hecatompedMeasuring a hundred feet in length or width.
• HelikeAn ancient Greek city that was submerged by a tsunami in 373 BC.
• hemi-Half.
• hetero-Varied, heterogeneous; a set that has variety with respect to the root.
• hippicRelating to horses or horse-riding.
• hoi polloiThe common people; the masses. (Used with or without the definite article.)
• holmosAn Ancient Greek or Etruscan vase with a rounded body, especially a closed vessel of nearly spherical form on a high stem or pedestal, or a drinking cup with a foot and stem.
• homeoteleutonThe repetition of endings in words; near rhyme.
• hubridSynonym of hubristic (“overly arrogant or proud, or presumptuous, especially in a disdainful or rude manner”).
• hydro-water
• hydrographiaCreating an illusion of reality through vivid description of water.
• hyperdoricHaving artificial, phonological hyperadaptations that imitate and exaggerate the distinctive features of Doric Greek in an unetymological fashion, sometimes intentionally for stylistic effect.