Word origins

• PhaistosAn ancient city in southern Crete prefecture, in modern Greece.
• malvasiaA variety of grape, originally from the region of the Aegean, now used to make malmsey wine.
• NereusThe eldest son of Pontus (the sea) and Gaia (the earth).
• PandarusAn archer on the side of Troy in the Trojan War who precipitated the war by breaking a truce.
• clostridialOf, pertaining to, or caused by a bacterium of the genus Clostridium
• lyophilizationSynonym of freeze-drying.
• sisypheanIncessant or incessantly recurring, but futile.
• amphioxusThe lancelet, particularly of the genus Branchiostoma.
• crinoidOne of the numerous animals that make up the class Crinoidea; the feather stars or sea lilies.
• telsonThe part of an arthropod or crustacean posterior to the last segment, often resembling an armored tail or tip of the tail.
• VardarA river in Southeastern Europe, which arises in North Macedonia and flows to the Aegean Sea in Greece.
• polydactylyA congenital condition in which a person or animal has more than the usual number of digits (fingers or toes) on at least one of the hands or feet.
• amacrineWithout long processes.
• taphonomyThe study of the fate of the remains of organisms after they die, especially the study of fossilization.
• oxicSharp; pointy.
• hexapodAny organism, being or robot with six legs.
• apatosaurusA large sauropod dinosaur of the genus Apatosaurus of the late Jurassic Period, having a long neck and tail and a relatively small head.
• diabaticInvolving the gain or loss of heat (and thus a change in entropy).
• syncytiumA mass of cytoplasm containing many nuclei; a multinucleate cell resulting from cell fusions of mononuclear cells (for example, the cells that make up animal skeletal muscle).
• nephelometerAn instrument for measuring various aspects of the suspended particles in a fluid; especially in a colloid.
• manticRelating to divination; prophetic.
• dasiaSynonym of rough breathing.
• AutolycusA thief or plagiarist.
• arsisRaising of the voice in prosody, accented part of a metrical foot
• trochusAny member of the genus Trochus, or more generally of the family Trochidae; in non-specialist usage, including species formerly classified in that family, particularly Tectus niloticus.
• physisNature, as contrasted with law or custom.
• chitonA loose woolen tunic worn by men and women in Ancient Greece and in Ancient Rome.
• synapsisThe association of homologous maternal and paternal chromosomes during the initial part of meiosis.
• eurusThe east wind.
• klismaphiliaThe condition involving enjoyment of, and sexual arousal from, enemas.
• pentadSynonym of quinquennium: a five-year period, especially in reference to the first and second halves of calendrical decades.
• thrombopoietinA protein produced by the liver and kidney, which regulates the production of platelets
• amygdaloidShaped like an almond
• semonA unit of semiology or semantics.
• tektonA carpenter or mason.
• crocosmiaAny of many plants in the genus Crocosmia
• glossolaliaSpeaking a language one does not know, or speaking elaborate but apparently meaningless speech, while in a trance-like state (or, supposedly, under the influence of a deity or spirits); speaking in tongues.
• deontologySynonym of ethics (“the study of principles relating to right and wrong conduct”).
• glenohumeralOf or pertaining to the glenoid fossa and the humerus.
• EretriaA town in Euboea, Greece, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow South Euboean Gulf. It was an important polis in the 6th/5th century BC.
• dacryphiliaA paraphilia in which one is aroused by tears or sobbing.
• bariabaryta
• catholicosA high-ranking bishop or patriarch in certain Eastern Christian traditions.
• AmphipolisA municipality in Central Macedonia, northern Greece.
• autocephalousFully independent of the authority of any other church.
• diplodocusAny of several herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs, of the genus Diplodocus, known as fossils from the late Jurassic in North America.
• holoprosencephalyA congenital disorder involving insufficient division of the lobes of the brain during fetal development, resulting in skull and facial deformities ranging from minor cleft lip problems to cyclopia, in which a single eye develops where the nose would normally be.
• EuboeaAn island of Greece, the second-largest, just off the eastern coast of Boeotia, in the Aegean Sea.
• sketeA secluded religious community in Eastern Orthodox Christianity which is a dependency of, and generally less physically substantial than, a monastery, generally consisting of living quarters and a church.
• KhemLetopolis
• olpeOriginally, a leather flask or vessel for oils or liquids; afterward, an earthenware vase or pitcher without a spout.
• threnodyA song or poem of lamentation or mourning for a dead person; a dirge; an elegy.
• eikonalDescribing the properties of a class of partial differential equation encountered in descriptions of wave propagation.
• SapphiraA female given name from Ancient Greek.
• neuropilA fibrous network of nervous tissue that forms the gray matter of the brain
• ectropionA condition of loose eyelids, characterized by the turning outward of the lower eyelid.
• democidemurder of people by a government which has power over them.
• XantheA female given name from Ancient Greek.
• psiliSynonym of smooth breathing.
• kininAny of various structurally related polypeptides of the autacoid family, such as bradykinin and kallikrein, that act locally to induce vasodilation and contraction of smooth muscle.
• AstypaleaAn island of Greece.
• periodontiumThe specialized tissues that both surround and support the teeth, maintaining them in the maxillary and mandibular bones; the tissues including alveolar bone, cementum, gums and periodontal ligament.
• AreopagusThe supreme judicial and legislative council of ancient Athens.
• PartheniaA female given name from Ancient Greek.
• terasa grossly malformed fetus
• AntikytheraAn island of Greece located between the Peloponnese and Crete, near Kythira.
• gynoeciumThe pistils/carpels of a flower considered as a group
• prostyleHaving pillars only along the front side
• polytropicAble to take various courses of action; resourceful, versatile, adaptable.
• CariaA historical region in the southwest corner of Asia Minor, in modern Turkey.
• dysostosisA disorder of the development of bone.
• cosmesisThe preservation, restoration, or bestowing of physical beauty, especially to the human body.
• kleptomaniacOne who steals compulsively.
• RhodopeA woman in Greek mythology.
• crocidoliteA fibrous, blue-green mineral that is a variety of riebeckite and is one of the six types of asbestos.
• AstraeaThe Greek goddess of stars and justice; similar to Dike, equivalent to the Roman goddess Justitia.
• dendronA slender projection of a nerve cell which conducts nerve impulses from a synapse to the body of the cell; a dendrite.
• OlympiasEpirote queen who was the mother of Alexander the Great.
• ProcrustesA celebrated legendary highwayman of Attica, who tied his victims upon an iron bed, and, as the case required, either stretched or cut off their legs to adapt them to its length.
• jubeA type of gelatine-based confection; its ingredients and consistency vary between countries.
• NephthysAn ancient Egyptian goddess, the wife of Set and sister of Isis, Osiris, and Set, worshiped as a protective goddess and nurse of the pharaoh and associated with funerary rites and the transition from life to death.
• eclogiteA coarse-grained metamorphic rock, a mixture of pyroxene, quartz, and feldspar with inclusions of red garnet.
• hippocampA mythological creature, a cross between a horse and a fish.
• kyphoplastyA medical procedure that restores the original height and angle of kyphosis of a fractured vertebra and then stabilizes it with the injection of bone filler material.
• AnthroposThe primordial man/humanity.
• triskelionA figure composed of three interlocked spirals (or three bent human legs), with threefold rotational symmetry.
• alexithymiaA deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing emotions.
• AzaniaThe region of East Africa as known by the Ancient Greeks and Romans.
• stilbeneEither of two isomeric hydrocarbons, diphenylethylene, but especially the trans isomer, used in the manufacture of dyes and many other compounds.
• CottusOne of the Hecatoncheires (hundred-handed monster) of Ancient Greek mythology.
• paraphyleticOf a defined group of taxa: not including all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of all members.
• AglaiaThe youngest of the three Graces, daughter of Zeus and Eurynome, spouse of Hephaestus.
• CorrinneA female given name from Ancient Greek.
• mitogenesisThe induction of cellular mitosis.
• kraterAn ancient Greek vessel for mixing water and wine.
• kerygmaThe proclamation of religious truths; core religious teaching; preaching.
• pteranodonA member of Pteranodon, a genus of large pterosaurs, the males of which had a bony crest on the back of the head.
• artosa loaf of leavened bread that is blessed during services in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Catholic churches.
• inionA small protuberance on the external surface of the back of the skull near the neck; the external occipital protuberance.
• erythroniumA plant of the genus Erythronium; a dogtooth violet.