(Adj.)

Pronunciation: [têrp-sê-'kor-ee-yên] Listen

Definition: Pertaining to dance.

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Usage: "Terpsichorean" may also be used as a high-style noun meaning "dancer." Today "terpsichore" refers more often to the art of dancing than to the Greek goddess (see Etymology). However, you may refer to the muse that inspires your dancing as "Terpsichore." (May she fill your days with dance and song—without any song and dance).

Suggested Usage: "Terpsichorean" sounds a bit haughty, even humorous, in ordinary contexts today, "My son's terpsichorean studies seem to have strengthened his drive to the basket on the basketball team." But today's is such a lilting word, it would serve as an elegant euphemism, "By 'terpsichorean circumvention' are you referring to the song and dance she did at the press conference today?"

Etymology: From Greek Terpsikhore, the goddess of dancing and singing, the feminine of terpsikhoros "dance-loving" based on terpein "to delight" + khoros "dance." The origin of "khoros" has long been an etymological mystery. The PIE stem *ghor-do-, referring to an enclosure, came to English as "garden" and "yard" (from Old English "geard"). The "gird" in "girdle" is another variant. The same root produced the "-grad" in old "Leningrad" and the Russian word for "city," gorod. In Latin it became hortus "garden." The best guess is that "khoros" originally referred to an enclosed area for dancing but the evidence is not conclusive. See our FAQ sheet for more on PIE.

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Word of the Day: Terpsichorean

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