phrygian cap
/ˌfrɪd͡ʒiən ˈkæp/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.18 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A soft, close-fitting conical cap with the top bent forward, represented in Greek and Roman art as worn by ancient Phrygians, and later associated with the Roman liberty cap.
noun
A congenital abnormality of the gall bladder with no pathological significance, caused by a folding at the distal part of the fundus.
Example Sentences
- "A Phrygian Priapus of Elegant VVorkmanſhip: The Phrygian Cap pointed and hanging dovvn behind, as our Caps in Diſhabille are novv vvorn."
- "[Cornelian. Brit[ish] Muſ[eum].] The tvvo Dioſcuri, vvith Phrygian caps, on horſeback, approaching a female in a long robe, in the middle, vvho ſeems to hold their horſes by the head."
- "He was a handsome wretch, physically. […] I have no doubt that his red Phrygian cap concealed a pair of pointed furry ears; but his tattered habiliments and the strips of gay cloth wound, brigand-like, about his calves were not able to hide the ungyved grace of his limbs."
- "A short while later, the fire in the courtyard was lit again when a hen laid a fantastic egg that looked like a Ping-Pong ball with an appendage like that on a Phrygian cap. My grandmother identified it on the spot: "It's a basilisk's egg." She threw it into the fire, murmuring prayers of conjuration."
- "Smiley Phryge (pronounced, with French style, as "Free-juh") represents what's known as a Phrygian cap, based on similar caps worn by 18th-century French revolutionaries, who saw it as a symbol of freedom. […] "When the French and British wanted to choose a cap of liberty from antiquity, they got it wrong," he [Charles Brian Rose] says. "They chose the Phrygian cap, which signified Middle East status, rather than the pileus, which signified liberty—and so the Phrygian cap came to be interpreted as a symbol of liberty.""
- "The phrygian cap or folded-fundus gallbladder is a relatively frequent variation in the shape of the gallbladder, which appears as a persistent notch on radiographic contrast study. […] The phrygian cap does not appear to be the result or the cause of disease, and is considered to be of no clinical importance except that it may stimulate a stone or other abnormality."
Etymology
Word Breakdown
- Root: *bʰerǵʰ-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌfrɪd͡ʒiən ˈkæp/
- British English: /ˌfrɪd͡ʒɪən ˈkæp/