sycophant

Meaningfig shower

Common meaning: a fawning flatterer

syca figLiddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), p. 757 · scan
phanto bring to light, showLiddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), p. 853 · scan
tpast-participle ending

‘a fig’ + ‘to bring to light, show’ → sycophant

Journey through time

Neither part’s path through time is traced in our sources yet; each root is shown from its dictionary entry.

syc — Greek σῦκον “a fig” (dictionary form; path not traced)
phan — Greek φαίνω “to bring to light, show” (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: not available. Respelling: generated.
US IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.

Origin: Built on Greek σῦκον ‘a fig’ + Greek φαίνω ‘to bring to light, show’.

Did you know (The Greek word…): our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry SYCOPHANT, p. 619 · dictionary scan

Did you know (Greek phainein, to…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), entry φαίνω, p. 853 · dictionary scan

Roots

σῦκον Greek “a fig”
φαίνω Greek “to bring to light, show”

Related words

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