Meanings
plural cephalophores
- CatholicismAny of a group of saints depicted in art carrying heads in their hands.
According to William of Worcester, quite a large number of Cornish saints were cephalophores: besides S. Nectan and S. Willow, he tells us that “there were three brothers under the name of Genesius and each one carried his head.”
1960, Gilbert Hunter Doble, The Saints of Cornwall, volume 5, page 60
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of cephalopod: a mollusk of the class Cephalopoda.
Origin
- Frenchcéphalophore
- Ancient Greekκεφαλή“head”
- Englishcephalophore
From Ancient Greek κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”) + -φόρος (-phóros, “bearing”), a derivative of φέρω (phérō, “I bear, I carry”); in the Christian sense, via French céphalophore, coined by Marcel Hébert in 1914.
More words from Ancient Greek, French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cephalophore. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cephalophore
“cephalophore.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cephalophore. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cephalophore,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cephalophore.
Source: cephalophore on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.