platypus
Meaningflat foot
Common meaning: an egg-laying, duck-billed mammal
- platflat and wideLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 1222 · scan
- pusa footLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 1261 · scan
‘flat and wide’ + ‘a foot’ → platypus
Journey through time
Neither part’s path through time is traced in our sources yet; each root is shown from its dictionary entry.
- plat — Greek πλατύς “flat and wide” (dictionary form; path not traced)
- pus — Greek πούς, ποδός “a foot” (dictionary form; path not traced)
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 Greek πλατύς ‘flat and wide’ + Greek πούς ‘a foot’.
Did you know (Greek pous, podos,…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), entry πούς, p. 1261 · dictionary scan
Did you know (Greek platys, flat,…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), entry πλατύς, p. 1222 · dictionary scan
Roots
- πλατύς Greek “flat and wide”
- πούς, ποδός Greek “a foot”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app