单词 | sphinx |
释义 | sphinx (sfɪŋks) also Sphinx Word forms: plural sphinxes countable noun The Sphinx is a large ancient statue of a creature with a human head and a lion's body that stands near the pyramids in Egypt. In mythology, sphinxes gave people puzzles to solve, and so a person who is mysterious or puzzling is sometimes referred to as a sphinx. It suited him to play the sphinx. Sphinx in British English (sfɪŋks) noun the Sphinx 1. Greek mythology a monster with a woman's head and a lion's body. She lay outside Thebes, asking travellers a riddle and killing them when they failed to answer it. Oedipus answered the riddle and the Sphinx then killed herself 2. the huge statue of a sphinx near the pyramids at El Gîza in Egypt, of which the head is a carved portrait of the fourth-dynasty Pharaoh, Chephrēn Word origin C16: via Latin from Greek, apparently from sphingein to hold fastsphinx in British English (sfɪŋks) nounWord forms: plural sphinxes or sphinges (ˈsfɪndʒiːz) 1. any of a number of huge stone statues built by the ancient Egyptians, having the body of a lion and the head of a man 2. an inscrutable person sphinx in American English (sfɪŋks) nounWord forms: plural ˈsphinxes or ˈsphinˌges (ˈsfɪnˌdʒiz) 1. Greek Mythology a. a winged monster with a lion's body and the head and breasts of a woman b. [S-] a sphinx at Thebes that strangles passersby who are unable to guess its riddle 2. a. any ancient Egyptian statue or figure having, typically, the body of a lion and the head of a man, ram, or hawk b. [S-] a huge statue having the body of a lion and the head of a man, at Gîza, near Cairo, Egypt 3. a person who is difficult to know or understand 4. Zoology hawk moth Word origin ME spynx < L sphinx < Gr, lit., the strangler < sphingein: see sphincterExamples of 'Sphinx' in a sentence |
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