Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Amphibious
/æmˈfɪbiəs/adjective
Able to operate or live both on land and in water.
The Greek roots
ἀμφί
amphí
both, on both sides
βίος
bíos
life
Literally: “of both lives”
The story of the word
ἀμφίβιος describes a creature at home in two elements. Greek writers also used it of people leading a double existence, a sense English briefly kept in the 17th century before biology took the word over. The military meaning, an assault launched from ships onto a defended beach, is a 20th-century development that would have baffled Aristotle.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
amphibianamphitheatrebiologysymbiosis
In a sentence
Frogs are amphibious, which is why the pond matters more than the garden.