dragon

English

/ˈdɹæɡən/

noun
Definitions
  • A legendary serpentine or reptilian creature.
  • An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:
  • (astronomy) The constellation Draco.
  • (pejorative) A fierce and unpleasant woman; a harridan.
  • (with definite article) The (historical) Chinese empire or the People's Republic of China.
  • (figuratively) Something very formidable or dangerous.
  • A type of playing-tile (red dragon, green dragon, white dragon) in the game of mahjong.
  • A luminous exhalation from marshy ground, seeming to move through the air like a winged serpent.
  • (military) A short musket hooked to a swivel attached to a soldier's belt; so called from a representation of a dragon's head at the muzzle.
  • (computing) A background process similar to a daemon.
  • A variety of carrier pigeon.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English dragoun borrowed from Old French dragon derived from Latin draco, dracō, dracōnem derived from Ancient Greek δράκων (dragon, a dragon, a serpent of huge size, a python, serpent, giant seafish) root from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (see, glance, look).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*derḱ-

Gloss

see, glance, look

Concept
Semantic Field

Sense perception

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Kanji

見

Emoji
🙈 🪚

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms