Meanings
- Greekpluralplural onlyhuman sciencesThree monstrous giants of enormous size and strength, each with fifty heads and one hundred arms, who were offspring of Uranus by Gaia, whom Zeus freed from captivity and who in return aided the Olympians in the Titanomachy.
The three Hecatoncheires were named Cottus, Briareus (or Aegaeon) and Gyges (or Gyes).
3 more examples
1840, George Cornewall Lewis (translator), John William Donaldson (translator, later chapters), Karl Otfried Müller, History of the Literature of Ancient Greece: To the Period of Isocrates, Robert Baldwin, page 92, […] nor is it until the poet has related how Zeus set free these Hecatoncheires, by the advice of the Earth, that we are introduced to the battle with the Titans, which has already been some time going on.
But then Zeus went down to Tartarus and released the Cyclopes and the hundred-handed monsters. The Cyclopes awarded Zeus their weapons of thunder and lightning, and the Hecatoncheires pelted the Titans with boulders.
1973, James Weigel, James L. Roberts, Mythology, CliffsNotes, page 501993, Tim Parks (translator), Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, [1988, R. Calasso, Le nozze di Cadmo e Armonia], Random House (Vintage), page 202, By this time many beings had spread out across space, both on high and below: the Titans, the Cyclopes, the Hecatoncheires.
Synonyms: Centimanes, Hundred-Handers
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThree monstrous giants of enormous size and strength, each with fifty heads and one hundred arms, who were offspring of Uranus by Gaia, whom Zeus freed from captivity and who in return aided the Olympians in the Titanomachy.
Origin
From Ancient Greek ἑκᾰτόν (hekătón, “hundred”) + χείρ (kheír, “hand”), compare the adjective ἑκατόγχειρος (hekatónkheiros, “hundred-handed”). The putative *Ἑκατόγχειρες (*Hekatónkheires) is unattested in Hesiod's Theogony, which instead describes the giants with the phrase ἑκατὸν μὲν χεῖρες (hekatòn mèn kheîres).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek Ἑκατόγχειρες
- Ἑκατόγχειρες (Hekatónkheires)mythological giants with 100 arms
Esperanto Hekatonĥiroj
- Hekatonĥirojmythological giants with 100 arms
French Hécatonchires
- Hécatonchiresmythological giants with 100 arms
German Hekatoncheiren
- Hekatoncheirenmythological giants with 100 arms
Greek Εκατόγχειρες
- Εκατόγχειρες (Ekatóncheires)mythological giants with 100 arms
Italian Ecatonchiri
- Ecatonchirimythological giants with 100 arms
Latin Centimani
- Centimanimythological giants with 100 arms
Portuguese hecatônquiros
- hecatônquirosmythological giants with 100 arms
Spanish Hecatónquiros
- Hecatónquirosmythological giants with 100 arms
Cite this entry
Hecatoncheires. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hecatoncheires
“Hecatoncheires.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hecatoncheires. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hecatoncheires,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hecatoncheires.
Source: Hecatoncheires on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.