sacrum
/ˈsækɹəm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.35 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Etymology
From Latin os sacrum (“holy bone”), a calque of Ancient Greek ἱερὸν ὀστέον (hieròn ostéon). Apparently so called either because the sacrum was the part of the animal offered in sacrifice or because of a putative belief that it is where a person's soul resides. A third explanation is that the term is a translation of Ancient Greek ἱερόν (hierón), which has two meanings: “holy, sacred”, and “big” — big being a more appropriate description of the sacrum — but compare.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: os sacrum, ἱερὸν ὀστέον
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsækɹəm/
- British English: /ˈsækɹəm/