cornucopia
/ˌkɔɹ.nəˈkoʊ.pi.ə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.56 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
5
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A goat's horn endlessly overflowing with fruit, flowers and grain; or full of whatever its owner wanted: or, an image of a such a horn, either in two or three dimensions.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Device, an anchor held by a hand from the clouds: behind the anchor are a kind of brackets, in the form of cornucopiæ, croſſed; […]"
- "It soon came: as they were on their way to a transparency of their majesties, not a little larger than life—with Bellona, in a very handsome helmet, on one side, and Peace, with a cornucopia and a full blown wreath of roses, on the other—the path was interrupted by a little knot of gentlemen."
- "So far as Swedenborg’s elucidation extends, it is comprised in seven groupings of this family; and, possibly, the Hebraic forms of the several names which are included in them, may at some future period, like so many cornucopiæ of wisdom, yield abundance of precious fruit to the Biblical student."
- "A head of Trajan, between two cornucopiæ, under which is a winged foot, with a caduceus and a dolphin."
- "On these the details of the cornucopiae resemble those familiar in the Hellenistic world: from the horn, filleted and filled to overflowing with bunches of grapes, […]"
- "The three cornucopiae which branch out to hold the candles are apparently unparalleled and this in itself offers some encouragement for regarding the pieces as by Giuseppe, for the majority of his designs seem to have been cast once only (counting for this purpose a pair as a unique item, as with the lower parts of the Victoria and Albert Museum firedogs)."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ ? Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-der. Proto-Italic *kornū Latin cornū Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin co- Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-der. Proto-Italic *opis Latin ops Latin cōps Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin cōpia Latin cornūcōpiabor. English cornucopia Borrowed from Latin cornūcōpia.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌkɔɹ.nəˈkoʊ.pi.ə/
- British English: /ˌkɔː.njəˈkəʊ.pi.ə/