Word origins

• TaprobanaSri Lanka.
• tardationThe act of slowing down or delaying.
• tardigradeSluggish; moving slowly.
• Tarentineof or pertaining to Tarentum
• TarpeiaA vestal virgin and daughter of Spurius Tarpeius who betrayed Rome to the Sabines by opening the gates of the citadel in exchange for what they wore on their arms; instead, she was crushed to death by their shields.
• TarpeianOnly used in Tarpeian Rock (“a steep cliff of the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill, used as an execution site in Ancient Rome”)
• tarsiidAny primate in the family Tarsiidae; a tarsier.
• tarsioidA tarsier or extinct relative; any member of the infraorder Tarsiiformes
• TartareanOf or relating to Tartarus.
• TartessosThe Greek name of Carteia.
• tauricOf or relating to the constellation Taurus.
• TauricaAn ancient geographic region and peninsula, the name used by the Greeks and Romans for the modern Crimean Peninsula in Eastern Europe, internationally recognized as part of Ukraine but occupied by Russia.
• tauricornousHaving horns like those of a bull.
• tauriformHaving the form of a bull.
• TauriniA Celto-Ligurian tribe of ancient Piedmont, whose chief town was Taurasi, near Turin.
• tauroboliumThe ritual slaughter of a bull.
• taurolatryThe worship of bulls.
• taurylic acidAn acid found in the urine of cattle, horses, and humans, probably identical with cresol.
• taxifolinA flavanonol, dihydroquercetin, found in the Chinese yew (Taxus chinensis var. mairei) and other plants
• tectibranchiateHaving the gills covered by the mantle; of or relating to the former order Tectibranchiata.
• tecto-Tectum, dorsal portion, outer surface.
• tectoriumA covering.
• tectum argentiBismuth.
• teetotumA toy (spinning top) similar to a dreidel.
• tegestologyThe collecting of beer mats or coasters as a hobby.
• tegmenA covering or integument, usually referring to a thin layer or membrane in an organism.
• tegmentumThe ventral portion of the midbrain, divided from the tectum by the cerebral aqueduct and the periaqueductal grey.
• tegulaA small sclerite situated above the base of the costal vein in the wings of various insects, and attached to the anterolateral portion of the mesonotum.
• tegularResembling or relating to a tile; arranged like tiles; consisting of tiles
• telargpaliteAn isometric steel gray mineral containing palladium, silver, and tellurium.
• telaryOf or relating to a web, or that spins webs
• TeleboaeA tribe of Acarnania descending from Teleboas.
• TelegonusThe youngest son of Circe and Odysseus.
• TelesphorusA god/personification of complete recuperation from illness or injury. He is a healer and a son of Asclepius and Epione.
• teliferousHaving nematocysts or stinging cells.
• teliosporeA teleutospore.
• telluralOf or pertaining to the earth.
• tellurionAn instrument used to show how the rotation of the Earth on its axis and its orbit around the Sun cause day and night and the seasons.
• telluro-earth
• temerariousCharacterized by temerity; recklessly daring or bold.
• temerationtemerity
• temp.In the time of (followed by an indicator of a historical period, especially a reigning monarch).
• tempestiveseasonable; timely
• tempestivitytimeliness
• temporal hourA unit of time defined as ¹⁄₁₂ of a day's daylight or nighttime, varying according to season, latitude, and local weather.
• temporicideThe act of killing time.
• temporinAny of a family of peptides isolated originally from the skin secretion of the European red frog, Rana temporaria.
• temporo-temporal: temples
• tempus fugitSynonym of time flies.
• temulenceDrunkenness; intoxication.
• temulencySynonym of temulence.
• temulentIntoxicated, drunk.
• tenacleA stalk or shoot by which a plant holds itself up, or by which climbing plants attach themselves to surfaces.
• tenaculumA medical instrument consisting of a sharp hook attached to a handle; used mainly for taking up arteries and the like.
• tendo AchillisThe Achilles tendon.
• tenebralProfoundly dark.
• tenebrescenceReversible photochromism; the ability of a material to change colour when exposed to sunlight.
• tenebricoseFull of darkness; gloomy, tenebrous.
• tenebrificousSynonym of tenebrific (“producing darkness”).
• TenedosAn island of Turkey in the northern part of the Aegean Sea.
• tenendumThe clause in a deed wherein the tenure of the land is defined and limited.
• teneralIn the pale, soft-bodied state that follows moulting, before the hardening and darkening of the cuticle, during which the creature is able to expand.
• teneritytenderness
• tenibleCapable of being held; holdable.
• tenonectomyThe excision of part of a tendon.
• tensideA surfactant.
• tensuretension
• tentacularOf, or pertaining to, tentacles.
• tentaculiteAny of numerous species of small, conical shells found in Paleozoic rocks, fossils from the extinct genus †Tentaculites.
• tentiginousstiff; stretched; strained
• tentigoPenile erection or tumescence; especially, pathological erection (priapism).
• tentoriumThe framework of internal supports (a false endoskeleton) within an arthropod head, formed by ingrowths of the exoskeleton called apophyses.
• tentoryThe awning or covering of a tent.
• tenuifoliousHaving thin or narrow leaves.
• tenuityThinness, slenderness.
• tepefyTo cause to become tepid
• tephriteAn igneous rock consisting essentially of plagioclase and either leucite or nephelite, or both.
• tepidariumA warm room in a Roman baths that was usually heated by a hypocaust.
• teporLukewarmness, tepidness, moderate warmth.
• ter-three, threefold
• teraphimSynonym of teraph.
• tercel gentleA male falcon.
• terebinthineOf or pertaining to the terebinth tree.
• terebraThe ovipositor of a female hymenopteran, that pierces.
• terebrantOf an insect: that bores holes; specifically, of the suborder Terebrantia of thrips which bore using their ovipositors.
• terebrateProvided with a borer.
• terebrationThe act of terebrating, or boring through something.
• TereusA king of Thrace; husband of Procne
• tergeminousThreefold.
• tergiantShowing its back, having its back turned to the viewer.
• tergiversateTo evade, to equivocate using subterfuge; to obfuscate in a deliberate manner.
• tergiversationThe act of abandoning something or someone, of changing sides; desertion; betrayal.
• tergiversatorOne who tergiversates.
• tergocentralOf setae: located centrally on the dorsal side of an insect's body segment.
• tergumThe upper or dorsal surface of an articulated animal such as an arthropod.
• terminantterminal; terminating
• terminus ad quemThe latest possible date of a nonpunctual event (period, era, etc.)
• terminus ante quemThe date before which an event in the past must have occurred: the date before which a document must have been written, the date before which an archaeological artifact must have been deposited, and so on.
• terminus a quoThe lower limit of dating, as of the earliest plausible date at which a fact could have occurred or a document could have been written.
• terminus post quemThe earliest possible date for an event.