lyceum
/laɪˈsiːəm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.64 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A school, especially European, at a stage between elementary school and college, a lycée.
American usage
noun
An association for literary improvement.
Example Sentences
- "At a lyceum, not long since, I felt that the lecturer had chosen a theme too foreign to himself, and so failed to interest me as much as he might have done."
- "In the autumn he was to return home; his family - composed, as Rowland knew, of a father, who was a cashier in a bank, and five unmarried sisters, one of whom gave lyceum lectures on woman's rights, the whole resident at Buffalo, N.Y. - had been writing him peremptory letters and appealing to him as son, brother and fellow-citizen."
- "We burst out laughing. She told me that one of her teachers at the "lyceum" used to say that whenever any of the students got up to anything."
Etymology
From Latin Lyceum, from Ancient Greek Λύκειον (Lúkeion) (the name of a gymnasium, or athletic training facility, near Athens where Aristotle established his school), from Λύκειος, from Proto-Greek *λύκη), "light." The meaning of the epithet "Lyceus" later became associated with Apollo's mother Leto, who was the patron goddess of Lycia (Λυκία) and who was identified with the wolf (λύκος). Doublet of lycée and Lyceum.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: Lyceum, Λύκειον
Usage
- American usage