ouroboros

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A serpent, dragon or worm that eats its own tail, a representation of the continuous cycle of life and death.
  2. Anything of a circular or recursive nature.

Pronunciation

/uːˈrɒbəˌrɒs/ /uːˈrɒbərəs/ /ˌuːrəˈbɒrəs/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ouroboros.wav o͞o-rŏbʹə-rŏs o͞o-rə-bŏrʹ-əs /(j)ʊ(ə)rə(ʊ)ˈborəs/ /ˌorəˈborəs/ /ˌorəˈboroʊs/

Word forms

ouroboros ouroboroi ouroboroses uroboros

Etymology

From Ancient Greek οὐροβόρος (ourobóros, “tail-devouring”, a compound of οὐρά (ourá, “tail”) + -βόρος (-bóros, “-devouring”, which is derived from the verb βιβρώσκω (bibrṓskō, “to eat up”))).

Related words

Derived words

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.