Word origins

• ostracizeTo ban a person from a city for five or ten years through the procedure of ostracism.
• DotoOne of the Nereids.
• EireneThe goddess and personification of peace; one of the Horae, she is a daughter of Zeus and Themis, and her sisters are Dike (Justice) and Eunomia (Order of Law); her Roman counterpart is Pax.
• PamphyliaA historical region in the south coast of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia.
• IsmeneA daughter and half-sister of Oedipus, daughter and granddaughter of Jocasta, and sister of Antigone, Eteocles and Polynices.
• sarissaA long pike used in the traditional Greek phalanx formation.
• telophaseThe final stage of mitosis or meiosis during which the daughter chromosomes move towards opposite ends of the nuclear spindle
• gymnospermAny plant such as a conifer whose seeds are not enclosed in an ovary.
• TonianOf a geologic period within the Neoproterozoic era from about 1000 to 850 million years ago.
• syndactylyThe normal condition, in some animals and birds, of having fused digits.
• BouphoniaThe annual sacrifice of an ox and mock trial of the slaughterer at the ancient Athenian Dipolieia.
• bromaA light form of prepared cocoa, or the drink made from it.
• ataraxiaTranquility of mind; absence of mental disturbance.
• chomaA small tubercle or ridgelet located on the inner margin of a bivalve near the hinge.
• HephaestionAn ancient Macedonian nobleman and general in the army of Alexander the Great, noted as a lifelong personal friend of Alexander's.
• theogonyThe origination of gods or a narrative describing the origin of gods.
• exegeteA person skilled in exegesis; an interpreter of texts, difficult passages, law, oracles, and similar obscure or esoteric sources.
• exedraA semicircular recess, with stone benches, used as a place for discussion.
• hydriaA three-handled clay or metal vessel used in Greek culture to hold and pour water.
• autogyroAn aircraft in which lift is provided by unpowered rotating wings and thrust is provided by a conventional propeller.
• cephalalgiaA pain in the head; headache.
• anabasisA military march up-country, especially that of Cyrus the Younger into Asia.
• tsanAn Ancient Greek letter ⟨Ͷ ͷ⟩, found in a single inscription in the Arcadian dialect of Mantineia, which likely represented /t͡s/.
• DeucalionThe son of Prometheus, husband of Pyrrha. Both survived a deluge sent by Zeus to punish the human race.
• aleuroneThe protein content of the embryo, endosperm, or perisperm of cereals, in the form of minute particles.
• stroboscopeInstrument for studying or observing periodic movement by rendering a moving body visible only at regular intervals.
• phaticPertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship and whose meaning is otherwise either deemphasized or absent.
• azygosIn anatomy, a structure that is unpaired. This is relatively unusual, as most elements of anatomy reflect bilateral symmetry.
• ichthyolThe ammonium salt of sulfonated bitumen; used to treat some forms of skin diseases
• tremaA diacritic consisting of two dots ( ¨ ) placed over a letter, used among other things to indicate umlaut or diaeresis.
• philandererOne who plays at courtship; a fickle lover; a flirt (usually applies only to men).
• bathosOverdone or treacly attempts to inspire pathos.
• ArchilochusAn Ancient Greek name, particularly borne by a 7th century Archaic or a Classical Greek poet.
• seismA shaking of the Earth's surface; an earthquake or tremor.
• oliguriaA decreased production in the volume of urine.
• acromionThe outermost point of the shoulder blade.
• chaloneAny of several polypeptide hormones that reversibly inhibit mitosis in the tissues that produce them.
• AgenorKing of Phoenicia, father of Cadmus and Europa, and ancestor of Dido.
• stentorianLoud, powerful, booming, suitable for giving speeches to large crowds.
• TychicusA male given name from Ancient Greek, of historical use in English.
• amphitriteAny polychaete worm of the genus Amphitrite.
• pyrophoricSpontaneously igniting in air, especially when in a finely divided state.
• kryonThe biocoenosis of a kryal.
• ankylosisThe growing together of bones to form a single unit.
• phytonOne of the parts which by their repetition make up a flowering plant, each being a single joint of a stem with its leaf or leaves.
• PlutusThe god of wealth in Ancient Greek religion and myth. He was the son of Demeter and Iasion.
• protiumThe lightest and most common isotope of hydrogen, having a single proton and no neutrons: 11H. It is the only stable nuclide with no neutrons.
• agallochThe soft, aromatic, resinous wood of Aquilaria malaccensis (formerly Aquilaria agallocha).
• DanaanA Greek; a member of any of the Greek peoples (in ancient times).
• phylliteA type of metamorphic rock formed from clay-rich sediments called pelites.
• AnafiAn island of the Cyclades, Greece.
• CampeA female monster, the guard in Tartarus of the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers, whom Cronus, ruler of the Titans, had imprisoned there.
• hypophysisThe pituitary gland.
• allochthonousOriginating in a place other than where it is found.
• TrismegistusThe epithet of Hermes, the mythological author of the central text of hermeticism.
• anchoriteOne who lives in isolation or seclusion, especially for religious reasons; hermit.
• MeleagerA hero venerated in his temenos at Calydon in Aetolia, famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt, and mentioned as one of the Argonauts.
• zoilusA critic characterized as bitter, carping, malignant.
• amphotericHaving the characteristics of both an acid and a base, and capable of reacting as either.
• ectasiaSynonym of ectasis.
• pathognomonicspecifically characteristic or indicative of a particular disease or condition.
• lexicologyThe part of linguistics that studies words, their nature and meaning, words' elements, relations between words including semantic relations, words groups and the whole lexicon.
• agoraphiliaThe love of public life, crowds, and activity.
• daricA gold coin from Persian Empire, introduced by Darius the Great (522-486 BC) and used until Alexander the Great's invasion (330 BC).
• methodicmethodical
• ChristadelphianA member of a particular nontrinitarian Christian denomination founded in the mid-19th century.
• pederastyErotic love, sexually expressed or chaste, between a man and an adolescent boy.
• ArgolisA regional unit in eastern Peloponnese, Greece, which has its modern capital at Nafplio. Its original capital was at Argos.
• glossaThe tongue, or lingua, especially of an insect.
• EvadneA female given name from Ancient Greek.
• cyteSynonym of cell (“quantity of protoplasm, containing a nucleus, enclosed within a cell membrane”).
• isobathA line on a map or chart joining places of equal depth of water; a depth contour.
• coronisA device, curved stroke, or flourish formed with a pen, coming at the end of a book or chapter; a colophon. For example: ⸎, ۞.
• kyklosIn Ancient Greece, a raised platform within the agora, where goods were displayed for sale.
• wolfsbaneAny of several poisonous perennial herbs of the genus Aconitum.
• ColchisA historical region and ancient Georgian kingdom on the coast of the Black Sea in the South Caucasus on the border between Europe and Asia, corresponding to what is now western Georgia (including Abkhazia), as well as parts of Russia and Turkey.
• tholosA dome, or domed building; a cupola.
• hadrosaurAny ornithopod dinosaur of the family Hadrosauridae.
• epenthesisThe insertion of a phoneme, letter, or syllable into a word, usually to satisfy the phonological constraints of a language or poetic context.
• apocrineOf or pertaining to an apocrine gland or to its mode of secretion, which involves the budding of portions of the secreting cells.
• metonymicOf, or relating to, a word or phrase that names an object from a single characteristic of it or of a closely related object.
• lycaonAn eastern wolf or Algonquin wolf of Canis lycaon or subspecies Canis lupus lycaon.
• catalepsyA severe bodily condition, described in psychiatric pathology, marked by sudden rigidity, fixation of posture, and loss of contact with environmental conditions.
• amphitryonA host or entertainer.
• dionysiaThe orgiastic Ancient Greek festivals seasonally held in honor of Dionysus, which evolved into Greek comedy and tragedy.
• PelopsA Greek mythological figure, the son of Tantalus, and king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus.
• demagogyRule by demagogue.
• proedriaThe grassy area that separated the orchestra from the audience; or the front rows of the audience.
• AlectoOne of the Furies.
• eccrinePertaining to a sweat gland.
• collotypeA dichromate-based photographic process formerly used for large-volume mechanical printing.
• siglosA silver coin of Achaemenid Persia worth one twentieth of a daric and weighing about 5.6 grams.
• clastogeniccapable of causing damage to chromosomes
• prodromeA precursor or harbinger; also a warning event.
• anacrusisAn unstressed syllable at the start of a verse.
• TryphenaAn early Christian woman mentioned in the Bible.
• zygonIn the cerebrum, a short crossbar fissure that connects the two pairs of branches of a larger zygal (H-shaped) fissure.
• nephelineA feldspathoid mineral of silica-poor igneous, plutonic and volcanic rocks. Chemically, nepheline is a plagioclase feldspar with insufficient silica to satisfy the chemical bonds. Because of the unfilled bonds, nepheline weathers rapidly and can only be seen as inclusions in freshly broken rock.
• isocraticOf or relating to isocracy.
• conodontAny of several extinct fish-like chordates having cone-like teeth.