pnigalion

P3N1I1G2A1L1I1O1N1

noun

A nocturnal monster in Ancient Greece that would choke its victims; incubus; nightmare.

OriginNew Latin pnīgalion ← Ancient Greek πνῑγαλίων →
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Meanings

nounpnigalion (uncountable)
  1. historicaluncountableA nocturnal monster in Ancient Greece that would choke its victims; incubus; nightmare.

    Greeks had the pnigalion (the choker) and the barychnas (the heavy breather) troubling the sleepers (Keissling, 1977).

    2015, Nandita Chaube, Spirituality and Human Psyche
    2 more examples

    Because the Greeks considered being choked or strangled to be one consequence of a night-mare attack, the entity was also called pnigalion (“throttler”).

    2011, Shelley R. Adler, Sleep Paralysis, page 41

    Their guest list of night-time intruders includes: […] the Greek ephialtes ( one who leaps upon ) , mora ( the night 'mare' or monster), pnigalion ( the choker ) and barychnas (the heavy breather); […]

    2012, Arthur Goldstuck, The Ghost That Closed Down The Town
  2. archaicuncountablemedicinesleep paralysis; nightmare

    Themison names it pnigalion, from the Greek word for suffocating.

    1991, George Mora, Benjamin G. Kohl, Witches, Devils, and Doctors in the Renaissance
    2 more examples

    Incubus (synonyms, Pnigalion, ephialtes, epibole ) .— It is an elementary form of epilepsy .

    1936, James Richard Whitwell, Historical Notes on Psychiatry, page 170

    It was not merely unconsciousness, it was as if the mind were being smothered by some malign force, a pnigalion, throttling restfulness into a state of paralysis.

    2022, Lucas Lex DeJong, Unmapped Darkness: The Journals of the Red Raider

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekπνῑγαλίων“nightmare”
  2. New Latinpnīgalion
  3. Englishpnigalion

From New Latin pnīgalion, from Ancient Greek πνῑγαλίων (pnīgalíōn, “nightmare”), from πνῑ́γω (pnī́gō, “to throttle, strangle”).

More words from New Latin, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Lopingian
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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