amphibious
/æmˈfɪbiəs/am-FIH-bee-uhs
/æmˈfɪbiəs/am-FIH-bee-uhs
Meaningliving a double life
Common meaning: able to live or work both on land and in water
- amphion both sides; double
- bilife, way of livingLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 283 · scan
- ousadjective ending: full of, having
‘on both sides’ + ‘life, way of living’ → amphibious
Journey through time
- Greekἀμφίβιος‘living a double life’source
- Englishamphibious‘able to live or work both on land and in water’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Ancient Greek βίος (bíos) ‘life, way of living’.
Roots
- βίος (bíos) Ancient Greek “life, way of living”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app