omicra

O1M3I1C3R1A1

A form of omicron — The 15th letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets (16th in Ancient and Old Greek), used in ordering lists as in naming (astronomy) the 15th star of a constellation or (epidemiology) the 15th discovered major variant of a disease.

Scrabble 10

Meanings

omicra1

nounomicra pl
  1. pluralplural of omicron; Alternative form of omicrons.

    The two omicra are separated by a vertical line of unknown significance.

    1994, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, volume 7, Wayne State University Press, page 178
    4 more examples

    It must be remembered that we are dealing with uncials. ΒΟΟ could not very well become ΒΟΥ. But in the pre-Euclidean alphabet the impure diphthong resulting from the contraction of two omicra, as distinguished from the pure diphthong with a real u-element, was written Ο.

    1910, R. J. Walker, ΑΝΤΙ ΜΙΑΣ: An Essay in Isometry (Macmillan and co., limited), volume 1, page 91

    Perhaps the announcers think that two omicra make one omega, for, of course, unlike the other words I have quoted, “polio” does have two omicra in it.

    1955, Radio Society of Great Britain and Wireless Society of London, Wireless World (The Wireless Press), volume 61, page 94

    Yet are we wise to transcribe ypsilon as h in all cases? The study of the coins has shown long ago that ypsilon was used for h, and it is true that it is so used in the inscription. Nevertheless, in cases where there would otherwise be a heaping of omicra, it may perhaps serve as ṷ. For example, λρονο 4, 14/5, surely = lruṷᵒ from Old Ir. druwa-,³ which otherwise might have been spelt λροοο… ³ Not recognized by M. Maricq.

    1960, Walter Bruno Henning, “The Bactrian Inscription”, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, volume 23, page 49

    The fact that in M all omicra are round, while in A most of them are square, should neither blind us to the basic affinity of hand of the two versions, nor raise false hopes that individual hands may be identifiable either. For the few round omicra of A are so distributed (see Göbl’s plate X) that it would be absurd to attribute every change of o-shape to a change of stone-cutter.

    1966, Friedrich Hirth, editor, Asia Major, Princeton University Press, volume 12?, page 99

Omicra2

nounOmicra pl
  1. pluralplural of Omicron; Alternative form of Omicrons.

Origin

omicra · noun

  1. Ancient Greekὂ μικρά
  2. Englishomicra

From the Ancient Greek ὂ μικρά (ò mikrá), plural construction of ὂ μικρόν (ò mikrón).

Full word history & related roots →

Omicra · noun

  1. Ancient Greekὂ μικρά
  2. EnglishOmicra

From the Ancient Greek ὂ μικρά (ò mikrá), plural construction of ὂ μικρόν (ò mikrón).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

omicra. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/omicra

MLA

“omicra.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/omicra. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “omicra,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/omicra.

Source: omicra on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.