Myth & LegendGreek → English
Giant
/ˈdʒaɪənt/noun
A person or thing of enormous size.
The Greek roots
γίγας
gígas
one of the Giants
Literally: “one of the Gigantes”
Follow a root:γίγας2 words
The story of the word
The Gígantes were born of Gaia, fought the Olympians, lost, and were pinned under volcanoes. Their war covers the north frieze of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi and the whole great altar at Pergamon. Latin took gigas, French wore it down to geant, and English kept the g on the page while dropping its hard sound. Where the Greek word itself came from is unknown; the ancient link to gê, earth, is their guess rather than a derivation.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 13th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
giganticgigabytegigantism
In a sentence
The oak at the corner of the field is a giant, and older than the house.