Word origins

• asmatographerA song or music seller.
• aspheterismThe view that all property should be in common ownership and that no individual should benefit from private possession.
• aspidateShield-shaped; having the form of a flat plate.
• aspidocheloneA fabled sea creature according to the tradition of the Physiologus and medieval bestiaries, variously described as a large whale or vast sea turtle, and a giant sea monster with huge spines on the ridge of its back. It is often mistaken for an island, enticing unwitting sailors and drowning them.
• aspidoliteA monoclinic-prismatic mineral containing aluminum, fluorine, hydrogen, iron, magnesium, oxygen, potassium, silicon, sodium, and titanium.
• aspisA type of round shield borne by ancient Greek soldiers.
• Assemblies of GodA Christian Pentecostal denomination made up of a number of autonomous groupings of churches in various countries.
• assfishbony-eared assfish, Acanthonus armatus
• asteismPolite irony; a genteel and ingenious manner of deriding another.
• asterionThe point on the side of the skull corresponding to the posterior end of the parietomastoid suture.
• asterixisAn abnormal muscular tremor characterized by involuntary jerking of the hands
• asterophylliteA fossil plant from the coal formations of Europe and America, now regarded as the branchlets and foliage of calamites.
• asteroseismologyThe study of oscillations in stars.
• astheno-asthenia; weakness
• astigmiaastigmatism
• AstraeusThe Greek god of the dusk. Husband of Eos (goddess of the dawn), and father of the four Anemoi ("Winds"), and the five Astra Planeta ("Wandering Stars/Planets").
• astragalSynonym of anklebone: the bone forming the ball of the ankle joint.
• astragalomancyAny form of divination by dice.
• astragalosAn ancient form of die (used in games of chance) made from the knucklebone of a sheep.
• AstrapeThe goddess/personification of lightning, sister of Bronte, and an attendant of Zeus. Her Roman counterpart is Fulgora.
• astraphobeSomeone suffering from astraphobia.
• astraphobiaAn abnormal fear of thunder and lightning.
• astrapophobiaastraphobia, brontophobia
• astro-celestial bodies: fixed stars, wandering stars (planets), etc.; space; astronomy
• astroblemeA pit-like structure created by an impacting meteoroid, asteroid or comet.
• astroidA hypocycloid with four cusps.
• astrophylliteA rare, brown to golden-yellow hydrous potassium iron titanium silicate mineral, visually identical to kupletskite.
• astrothesiaA vivid description of stars.
• astyonymAny proper name by which a city is known.
• AstypalaiaAn island of the Dodecanese, Greece
• asymmetronA massive scalar field proposed as a form of dark matter
• asynartetedisconnected; not fitted or adjusted.
• ataracticThat has a tranquilizing effect.
• ataxyataxia
• AtéA goddess of mischief, delusion, ruin, and folly, the daughter either of Zeus or of Eris.
• atelo-incomplete; unfinished; defective.
• AthamasA Boeotian king, father of Phrixus and Helle by his first wife Nephele, whom he deserted for Ino.
• athanasyAn absence of death or the condition of everlasting life.
• athanogeneA protein that makes cells resistant to apoptosis.
• AthenaisA female given name.
• atheousAtheistic.
• atherineA small marine fish of the family Atherinidae having a silvery stripe along the sides.
• athermanousNot transmitting heat.
• athero-arterial conditions that are characterised by gruel-like lesions
• atheroidShaped like an ear of grain.
• athetesisThe act or fact of setting aside as spurious; rejection as invalid.
• athetizeTo reject a passage of text as spurious.
• athetosisA series of involuntary writhing movements of the limbs, typically bilateral and symmetric and predominantly affecting the distal parts of the limbs.
• -athlonContest
• AthoniteOf or related to Mount Athos in Greece or its monasteries.
• athrepsiaProfound debility of children due to lack of food and to unhygienic surroundings.
• athymiaThe absence of emotion; morbid impassivity.
• atimypublic disgrace or stigma; outlawry; loss of civil rights
• 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.
• Atropatene MediaSynonym of Atropatian Media
• Atropatian MediaSynonym of Atropatene
• attakoliteA monoclinic-prismatic mineral containing aluminum, calcium, hydrogen, iron, manganese, oxygen, phosphorus, silicon, and strontium.
• 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.).
• augeliteA mineral with monoclinic crystals of the chemical formula Al₂(PO₄)(OH)₃.
• aulacopodHaving a pair of parapodial grooves so that the ciliated sole extends above the foot margin.
• auleteAn aulos player.
• auletrisA courtesan or prostitute in Ancient Greece who played the flute to provide entertainment.
• aulicOf or pertaining to a royal court; courtly.
• ausoniumA rejected name for neptunium. (Ausonium chemical symbol: Ao)
• autacoidA hormone or similar compound that has a short-term, local effect
• autagonistophiliaA paraphilia in which sexual arousal is derived from being recorded during sexual activity, or performing onstage infront of others.
• autemesiaSelf-induced vomiting.
• autexousiousOf, pertaining to, or exercising free will; volitient.
• auto-Reflexive, regarding or to oneself.
• autochthonThe earliest inhabitant of an area; an indigenous person.
• autodidacticOf, relating to, or being an autodidact; self-taught; self-educated.
• AutomedonAchilles' charioteer, who drove the immortal horses Balius and Xanthos, son of Diores.
• autophanousProducing its own light.
• autopticSeen with one's own eyes; belonging to, or connected with, personal observation.
• autoschediasmAnything done with little forethought or preparation.
• autoschediasticimpromptu, improvised, ex tempore or offhand
• autosomeAny eukaryotic chromosome other than sex chromosomes.
• autotrophAny organism that can synthesize its food from inorganic substances, using heat or light as a source of energy.
• auxesisOverstatement, hyperbole.
• auxeticHaving the property of counterintuitively expanding when being stretched.
• auxetophoneA pneumatic type of sound-playback device used in the early part of the twentieth century.
• AuxoOne of the Charites worshipped in Athens.
• axiologyThe study of value(s), as regards origin, nature, functions, types, and interrelations; value theory.
• axo-axis
• axonemeA bundle of nine microtubules forming the internal scaffolding of a cilium, with two extra central microtubules connecting the others if the cilium is motile
• axophyteAny plant with an axis or stem
• azeotropeA mixture of two or more substances whose liquid and gaseous forms have the same composition (at a certain pressure); the substances cannot be separated by normal distillation.
• babaxAny of four species of passerine birds within the genus Pterorhinus in the laughingthrush family Leiothrichidae.
• BacchylidesAn Ancient Greek name, particularly borne by a 5th century Ancient Greek lyric poet.
• baenopodOne of the thoracic legs of arthropods.
• 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.
• balanephagousAcorn-eating.
• balanoidResembling an acorn; applied to the acorn barnacles
• balipholiteAn orthorhombic-dipyramidal mineral containing aluminum, barium, fluorine, hydrogen, lithium, magnesium, oxygen, and silicon.
• ballismusA condition characterised by violent involuntary rapid and irregular movements.
• balneologyThe study of baths and bathing, especially therapeutic bathing.
• banausicOf or pertaining to technical matters; mechanical.