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sphinx

Pronunciation: /ˈsfɪŋks/

The English word “sphinx” has 9 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal, commonly a lion.
  2. A person who keeps their thoughts and intentions secret; an enigmatic or impassive person.
  3. A mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), formerly classified as a baboon, and called sphinx baboon.
  4. A sphinx moth.
  5. A sphincter.

verb

  1. To decorate with sphinxes.
  2. To adopt the posture of the Sphinx.
  3. To be inscrutable, often through silence.
  4. To behave in a manner characteristic of the Sphinx.

Etymology

From Sphinx, from Middle English Spynx, from Latin Sphinx, from Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx), perhaps either from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “to squeeze, to strangle”) (whence also sphincter), of Pre-Greek origin, or from Egyptian Szp:p-A53-anx-n:x (šzp-ꜥnḫ, “divine image”, literally “living image”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.