Word origins

• paroemiacA catalectic anapestic dimeter.
• paromoeonalliteration
• paromologiaA concession to an adversary in order to strengthen one's own argument.
• paronymA word derived from the same root or stem as another word; classes include cognates and naturalizations of foreign words.
• parophthalmoncusA tumor or swelling near the eye.
• parotid glandEither of a pair of salivary glands located in front of and below each ear in humans.
• parotitisInflammation of one or both parotid glands.
• parousianRelating to the second coming of Christ.
• paroxytoneHaving the stress or accent on the penultimate syllable.
• paroxytonicOf or relating to words whose stress falls on the penultimate syllable
• parthemollinA xanthanolide found in Parthenice mollis.
• parthen-virgin
• parthenaicof or pertaining to the partheneia (παρθένειᾰ, an Ancient Greek song performed by maidens)
• partheneiaGreek lyric poems sung by choruses of maidens at festivals.
• partheniacanapestic dimeter catalectic, paroemiac
• ParthenicOf or relating to the Spartan Partheniae, or sons of unmarried women.
• parthenophiliaSexual attraction towards girls in late adolescence.
• ParthenosAn epithet of various Greek goddesses, most commonly Athena.
• parusiaA figure of speech by which the present tense is used instead of the past or the future, as in the animated narration of past events or the prediction of future ones.
• PasitheaOne of the Charites; Pasithea is specifically a goddess and personification of relaxation, meditation and hallucinations. She is the wife of Hypnos and the mother of the Oneiroi.
• -pathUsed to form nouns indicating someone with a particular disorder
• patho-disease
• pathognomyThe facial expressions showing emotions.
• pathopoeiaThe arousing of emotion in someone who hears music; a passage designed to arouse emotions.
• patriarchicPatriarchal.
• patriologyA discipline of Christian theology, involving the study of God the Father as revealed in Scripture.
• patronymThe name of someone's father.
• PauniThe tenth month of the later ancient Egyptian civil calendar and Coptic calendar, corresponding to the second month of the season of Shemu. Since 25 BCE, when the calendar was reformed to include leap-days, Pauni has been in roughly June.
• paurometabolousOf or belonging to the Paurometabola.
• pectizeTo congeal; to change into a gelatinous mass; to gel.
• pedesisBrownian motion
• pedionAn asymmetric triclinic crystal form that only has one face.
• pedo-Relating to children.
• pedocriminalA person who commits child sexual abuse; a child molester.
• pegomancydivination by fountains
• peirameterA dynamometer for measuring the force required to draw wheel carriages on roads of different constructions.
• peirasticExperimental or tentative.
• PeisistratidOf or relating to the Ancient Greek tyrant Peisistratus (ruled 546–527 B.C.E.) or his family, particularly his two sons, Hipparchus and Hippias.
• PeisistratusTyrant of Athens from 546 to 527/8 B.C.E. who promoted cultural and financial prosperity of Athens.
• PeithoOne of the Charites and a consort of Hermes.
• pelargicRelating to the stork (bird).
• PelasgicPelasgian
• PelasgoiThe Pelasgians.
• PelasgusThe eponymous ancestor of the Pelasgians, the mythical inhabitants of Greece who established the worship of the Dodonaean Zeus, Hephaestus, the Cabeiri, and other divinities.
• pelecoidHatchet-shaped.
• pelikeA ceramic container of Ancient Greece, similar to an amphora.
• peliomaA livid bruise.
• peliteA sedimentary rock containing very fine particles.
• pelmaThe undersurface of the foot.
• pelorismAn abnormality in plants where the flower appears to revert to an earlier form.
• pelotherapybody therapy using mud or clay
• peltastA type of light infantry unit in Ancient Greece who often served as skirmishers.
• pelycosaurAny of a group of basal or primitive Late Paleozoic synapsid amniotes, part of a polyphyletic grade, formerly regarded as order Pelycosauria.
• -peniadeficiency
• peniaphobiaThe fear of poverty or poor people; antipathy toward them; both.
• penta-Five.
• pentachoronA four-dimensional object analogous to a tetrahedron, constructed out of five tetrahedra.
• pentachotomyThe division of one into five separate but related parts.
• pentacronA solid with five summits (vertices), such as a square pyramid
• pentadelphousOf a flower or plant: having its stamens fused together at least partly by the filaments so that they form five separate groups, some of which may contain a single stamen.
• pentalphaA pentagram.
• pentapodyA measure, verse, or series consisting of five feet.
• pentapolisA geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities
• Pentapotamiaa geographical region in South Asia, politically divided between India and Pakistan.
• pentaptychA five-part polyptych; a picture, or combination of pictures, consisting of a centrepiece and double folding doors or wings, as for an altarpiece.
• penteconterA galley-type Grecian vessel with fifty oars.
• PentecostarionA liturgical book for the Paschal season, used by the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches that follow the Byzantine Rite.
• pentecosterAn officer who commands fifty men, particularly (historical) in the Spartan army.
• pentecostyA troop of fifty soldiers in the Spartan army.
• pentekostysA group of fifty men in the Ancient Greek army.
• pentennialSynonym of quinquennial: occurring every five years.
• pentetericSynonym of quinquennial (“related to or characterized by an five-year period”)
• penteterisSynonym of quinquennium
• penthossorrow; grief; mourning or sadness
• pentupleSynonym of quintuple in its various senses.
• peotomyThe removal of the penis.
• pepasticA suppurative.
• peplosAn Ancient Greek garment, worn by women, formed of a tubular piece of cloth, which is folded back upon itself halfway down, until the top of the tube is worn around the waist, and the bottom covers the legs down to the ankles; the open top is then worn over the shoulders, and draped, in folds, down to the waist.
• peraiaA place on the other side, usually a territory across the sea from a city or an island, generally a dependency of an ancient Greek city.
• PerateA member of an ancient Christian Gnostic sect.
• pereionThe thorax of a crustacean, between the head (cephalon) and abdomen (pleon).
• peri-surrounding
• periaktoiA device for changing scenery in a theatre. A row of adjacent, three-sided columns form a backdrop to the stage and are turned in unison to show a different face.
• periaktosA revolving structure used to change scenes rapidly in a theatre: a tall prism-shaped frame or screen at the side entrances, each carrying a number of scenes changed by turning the frames.
• periastronThe point of an orbit in which a celestial body is at its closest to the star it is orbiting.
• periblemThe cortex of a root of a young plant.
• peribolosAn enclosed court, especially one surrounding a temple.
• perichoresisThe doctrine of the Trinity.
• pericynthionThe point in an elliptical orbit around the moon that passes closest to the moon.
• peridesmiumThe areolar tissue around a ligament.
• peridexionA legendary tree believed to grow in India that attracts doves and repels dragons.
• peridiumThe outer layer that covers the spore-bearing organ in many fungi.
• peridromeThe space between the columns and the wall of the cella in an Ancient Greek or Roman temple
• peridromophileA collector of transfers.
• peridromophilyThe collection of transfers.
• perigynousHaving the stamens, petals or sepals situated around the ovary (especially, on the rim of the receptacle of a superior ovary).
• perikronePeriapsis around the planet Saturn.
• perikymaAny of the pits around the long prisms of tooth enamel, indicating the places where enamel-producing cells used to make contact with neighbouring cells.
• perioikoiThe ancient inhabitants of Laconia who were free residents of the mountains and the beaches of Laconia.
• peripatusAny onychophoran of the genus Peripatus