cyclops

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun (Greek mythology) one of a race of giants having a single eye in the middle of their forehead
  2. noun minute free-swimming freshwater copepod having a large median eye and pear-shaped body and long antennae used in swimming; important in some food chains and as intermediate hosts of parasitic worms that affect man e.g. Guinea worms

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cyclōps, from Ancient Greek Κύκλωψ (Kúklōps, “Cyclops ['round eyes']”). The sense for copepods is a semantic loan from translingual Cyclops.

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