Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

thebes

/θiːbz/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.81 in modern English

Syllables: thebes
IPA: /θiːbz/

11

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

1

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

A city in central Greece, the capital city of Boeotia and an important political centre in antiquity.

name

An ancient city and archaeological site in Upper Egypt, having functioned as capital city at times during the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom.

noun

plural of thebe

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Θῆβαι (Thêbai), from two different sources. The name of the Greek city is further derived from Ionic-Attic Θήβη (Thḗbē), from Mycenaean Greek 𐀳𐀣 (te-qa /⁠Tʰēgʷā⁠/), from Proto-Hellenic *Tʰēgʷā, while the name of the Egyptian city is from Egyptian Demotic Egyptian tꜣ-jpy (“Thebes”, literally “the temple”), from earlier Egyptian tꜣ (“the”) + i-p:t-O45 (jpt, “Luxor”, literally “inner sanctum”).

Origin

Source language: Ancient Greek

Word Breakdown

Root: Θῆβαι, 𐀳𐀣, *Tʰēgʷā, tꜣ-jpy, tꜣ

Inflected Forms

Thêbes (alternative, dated)

Derived Forms

Thebaean

Frequently Paired Words

Thebaic Theban Thebean

Rhymes With

debes biebs ceebs

Questions

How do you pronounce thebes?: The recorded pronunciation is /θiːbz/.
What does thebes mean?: A city in central Greece, the capital city of Boeotia and an important political centre in antiquity.
Where does thebes come from?: It is traced to Ancient Greek.

How to pronounce thebes

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “thebes”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/θiːbz/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “thebes”.
Repeat and practice — Say “thebes” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.