palmomancy

P3A1L1M3O1M3A1N1C3Y4

noun

Divination of involuntary movements of the body such as tics.

Scrabble 21

Meanings

nounpalmomancy (uncountable)
  1. uncountableDivination of involuntary movements of the body such as tics.

    5546 Papyrus fragment (sheet or roll) (PMich. XVIII 766; Pap. Flor. XXXIX, 3.1), containing a treatise of palmomancy, with no clear Christian influence.

    2016, Alan Mugridge, Copying Early Christian Texts: A study of scribal practice, Mohr Siebeck, →ISBN, page 412
    3 more examples

    The other texts are new or unidentified: an epic fragment relating to Achilles and the ransoming of Hector, some very imperfect iambic trimeters, apparently from a comedy, scholia on an unknown poetical text, two fragments of romances, an astrological fragment, and some fragments of a book of palmomancy, a genre very popular in Egypt, to judge by the specimens now known. To these may be added no. 718, containing medical recipes.

    1921, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology

    A more specifically divinatory approach to the human body is palmomancy, or divination from twitches and itches in various parts of the body, an ancient and apparently universal method of divination. At the level of Russian popular sayings and beliefs a large number of examples of this lore can be found, some of which are familiar in other languages, including English. The manuscript tradition is still unclear and palmomancy in Russia must be considered more ...

    1997, Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture, Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 54

    It is a “well-preserved quire of eight papyrus leaves” (PRYL. I 28, 56). The handwriting resembles a biblical uncial. It contains Pseudo-Melampous's treatise on palmomancy, a form of divination that takes its clues from involuntary body movements.

    2014, AnneMarie Luijendijk, Forbidden Oracles?: The Gospel of the Lots of Mary, Mohr Siebeck, →ISBN, page 52

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekπαλμός“quivering motion”
  2. Englishpalmomancy

From Ancient Greek παλμός (palmós, “quivering motion”) + -mancy; compare palmoscopy. By surface analysis, palmo- + -mancy.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

palmomancy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palmomancy

MLA

“palmomancy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palmomancy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “palmomancy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palmomancy.

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