Word
pegasus
Phoneticspe·ga·sus
/ˈpɛɡəsəs/
Definition
n. a famous horse from Greek myths that has wings and can fly.
n. A winged horse from Greek mythology, typically depicted as white and born from the blood of Medusa. The lowercase form occasionally serves as a poetic byword for inspiration.
Examples
“The hero rode a pegasus across the sky.”
“In the ancient story, Bellerophon managed to tame the pegasus with a golden bridle given to him by Athena.”
“The image of the pegasus has transcended its mythological origins to become a universal symbol of poetic genius and the soaring heights of human imagination.”
Examples
simple
“The hero rode a pegasus across the sky.”
contextual
“In the ancient story, Bellerophon managed to tame the pegasus with a golden bridle given to him by Athena.”
complex
“The image of the pegasus has transcended its mythological origins to become a universal symbol of poetic genius and the soaring heights of human imagination.”
Usage
When referring to the specific character from Greek mythology, it is treated as a proper noun and capitalised.
Etymology
From Late Middle English Pegase, Pegasus, from Latin Pēgasus, from Ancient Greek Πήγασος (Pḗgasos), traditionally associated with πηγή (pēgḗ, “spring, fountain, fountain fed by a spring”), especially used to denote springs of Ocean, where Perseus killed Medusa, from whose blood Pegasus sprang. Some have dismissed this as folk etymology and suggest a pre-Greek origin because of the -ασος suffix. First attested in the 14th century.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/pegasus