Everyday LifeGreek → English
Sybarite
/ˈsɪbəraɪt/noun
Someone devoted to luxury and physical comfort.
The Greek roots
Σύβαρις
Sýbaris
Sybaris, a Greek city
Literally: “a man of Sybaris”
Follow a root:Σύβαρις1 word
The story of the word
Sybaris was a Greek colony in the instep of Italy, rich on grain and trade, and so notorious for soft living that the name has outlasted the city by two and a half thousand years. Croton destroyed it in 510 BC. Athenaeus later collected the stories: horses trained to dance to the flute, which the Crotoniates are said to have exploited by playing the tune in battle, and a Sybarite who could not sleep because a rose petal under him was folded.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
sybariticspartanlaconic
In a sentence
He is a sybarite about coffee and indifferent to everything else in the kitchen.
The hotel was built for sybarites and priced accordingly.