Word origins

• -dipsiathirst
• dipso-thirst; drinking
• dipsologyThe study of the thirst for alcoholic beverages.
• dipterosA building with double peristyle or colonnade.
• DipylonThe main gate in the northwest of the city wall of ancient Athens, located in the modern suburb of Kerameikos.
• dipyreA type of scapolite (mineral).
• dirhinousInvolving or possessing two nostrils.
• disciformHaving a flat, rounded shape.
• discobolusA discus thrower.
• diskosA small plate used to hold eucharistic bread which is to be consecrated; a paten.
• dis legomenonA word that occurs only twice in a given corpus.
• dissophyteIn phytogeography, a plant of which the subterranean parts are adapted to mesophytic or even hydrophytic conditions, and the aerial parts to xerophytic conditions.
• distachyousHaving two ears or spikes.
• distrixThe splitting of the distal ends of the hair.
• ditokousHaving two kinds of young, such as offspring from asexual reproduction versus those from sexual reproduction.
• dittogramSynonym of dittography (“erroneous repetition in a text”).
• dittographyThe accidental error of repeating a word, phrase or combination of letters by a scribe or copyist.
• dochmiacPertaining to, or containing, the dochmius.
• docimasticof, or relating to an experiment, test or assay
• docimasyThe art by which the nature and proportions of an ore are determined; assaying.
• docos-Prevocalic form of docosa- (“twenty-two”).
• docosa-twenty-two
• dodeca-twelve
• dodecadactylumThe duodenum.
• dodecaphonistA practitioner or proponent of dodecaphony, i.e. use of the dodecaphonic musical scale, which has twelve tones per octave
• dodecarchA member of a group of twelve rulers
• dodecatemoryA twelfth, specifically each of the twelve divisions of the Zodiac.
• dodecathlonA gymnastics competition comprising twelve subcompetitions.
• dolicho-long
• dontopedalogyThe art of putting one's foot in one's mouth.
• doraphobiaThe fear of touching the fur or skin of an animal.
• doromaniaAn unusual urge or preoccupation with giving gifts.
• douleiaIn Roman Catholicism, the inferior veneration accorded to saints and angels.
• doxasticOf, pertaining to, or depending on opinion or belief.
• doxogenicInduced by one's own ideas or beliefs.
• dragonwortCommon bistort, a perennial herb of Europe and Asia, of species Bistorta officinalis (syns. Persicaria bistorta, Polygonum bistorta), formerly used as an astringent.
• dramatologyThe practice of viewing all symptoms as valid communications, including words, posture, tone of voice, and movements of the face and limbs.
• DrangianaAn ancient province of the Achaemenid Empire, in what is now southwestern Afghanistan.
• drapetomaniaThe desire of slaves to run away, viewed as a mental illness.
• drepanocytosisSynonym of sickle-cell disease.
• -dromeForms placenames related to racetracks (now especially large covered racetracks) or similar structures.
• -dromicRunning or moving in a specified manner.
• dromionAn exact, nonlinear solution of any of a large class of two-dimensional partial differential equations
• dromo-Speed, race, or racecourse.
• dromonA Byzantine bireme, similar to the chelandion, but used primarily for naval combat.
• dromosAn avenue, especially in Ancient Greece.
• -dromousrunning or moving in a specified manner
• -dromyThe quality or state of running or moving in a specified manner.
• drosometerA device for measuring the amount of dew on a surface.
• DrougoubitaiA South Slavic group who settled in the Balkans in the 7th century.
• drungarA kind of military commander in the late Roman and Byzantine Empires, usually commanding roughly a battalion on land or a fleet on the sea.
• dulocracyA government where servants and slaves have so much license and privilege that they domineer; predominance of slaves.
• dulosisThe process by which parasitic ants steal pupae from the nests of other ants and raise them in their own nest, so that they become a contributing part of the colony.
• Dura-EuroposAn ancient Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman border city on the bank of the Euphrates in present-day Syria.
• DurotrigesA Celtic tribe of southern, pre-Roman Britain.
• dynactinometerAn instrument for measuring the intensity of photogenic rays and computing the power of object glasses.
• dynamiticInvolving the use of dynamite.
• dynamo-power, usually physical.
• -dyneForms names of certain types of motors and electrical circuits.
• dynodeAny of a series of electrodes within a photomultiplier tube.
• DyophysiteSomeone who believes in the doctrine that there are ‘two natures’, human and divine, in Christ.
• dysbiosisA medical condition caused by microbial imbalances within the body.
• dyscrasiaImbalance of the four bodily humors (blood, black and yellow bile, phlegm) that was thought to cause disease.
• dysluiteA variety of the zinc spinel or gahnite.
• dysmeliaAny congenital disorder of the limbs, such as amelia or syndactyly.
• dysmetriaAn inability to control or to limit muscular movement.
• dysmorphiadysmorphism
• dysnomiaAnomic aphasia, a condition affecting the memory that impairs the recall of words or names.
• dysodileA soft, finely laminated, greenish or yellowish-grey impure earthy or coaly bitumen, which emits a highly foetid odour when burning.
• dysphoriantAn agent which can create a state of feeling unwell or unhappy; a stimulus of feeling(s) of emotional and mental discomfort and suffering from restlessness, malaise, depression or anxiety. See dysphoria.
• dystomicHaving imperfect fracture or cleavage.
• dystychiphobiaThe fear of accidents.
• EbioniteA member of an early Jewish Christian sect that lived in and around Judea and Palestine from the 1st to the 4th century.
• EcatherineA female given name; a rendering of cognates of Catherine with an initial vowel.
• ecblastesisThe production of buds within flowers.
• ecboleA digression, (especially) one in which a person is introduced speaking his or her own words.
• ecbolineAn alkaloid constituting the active principle of ergot, probably equivalent to ergotoxine
• eccaleobionA 19th-cetury contrivance for hatching eggs by means of artificial heat.
• eccoproticA mild laxative.
• eccriticAny remedy that promotes discharges.
• eccyclemaA wheeled device, used in ancient Greek plays, that could be rolled out to allow a tableau to be viewed.
• ecdysisThe stripping off of an outer layer of skin by snakes and certain other animals; typically in accommodation to growth or wear-and-tear.
• ecesisThe process of the successful establishment of a plant or animal species in a habitat that was barren previously or was left barren due to some catastrophe.
• echardThe portion of water in a sample of soil that is not available to vegetation.
• echemeA unit of sound produced by insects that can be broken down into multiple physically more basic sound units (syllables).
• echino-Forming compound terms denoting something prickly or, specifically, indicating the sea urchin.
• echinocyteA red blood cell with abnormal appearance characterized by many small, evenly spaced thorny projections.
• echo-Synonym of sono-.
• echoiOne of a set of eight modes, octoechoi, of music in Byzantine music. It selects the chant style or genre.
• echolaliaThe involuntary repetitive echoing of words or phrases spoken by another person; either immediate or delayed.
• eclipsisAn omission of words needed to fully express the sense of a phrase.
• ecolectA language variety unique to a household.
• ecphonemainterjection; ecphonesis
• ecphonesisThe part of a service spoken in an audible tone.
• ecphracticServing to dissolve or clear viscous matter or secretions, and so remove obstructions
• ectasisThe dilation or distention of a hollow or tubular part of the body, typically due to disease or injury.
• ecthesisAn exposition or setting out; used by Aristotle in setting forth various proofs, though the nature of the process is disputed; perhaps simply writing out in letter notation.
• ecthlipsisThe dropping out or suppression of a consonant from a word, with or without a vowel.
• ecthoreumThe slender, hollow thread of a nettling cell or cnida.
• ecto-Outside.