salonica
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.97 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
Synonym of Thessaloniki: a port city, the capital of Central Macedonia, in northern Greece.
Example Sentences
- "Sleeping-car passengers, however, will know little of their entry into Greece until, at 6 a.m. on the third morning after leaving Paris, the short train runs over the Vardar plain, with dawn glimpses of Mount Athos to the east and of cloud-capped Olympus across the gulf to the south, past the rebuilt yard and into the new passenger station at Salonica."
Etymology
From Medieval Latin Salonica, from Byzantine Greek Σαλονίκη (Saloníkē), clipping of Ancient Greek Θεσσαλονίκη (Thessaloníkē), named for Thessalonike daughter of Philip II, half-sister of Alexander the Great, and wife of Cassander of Macedonia, from Θεσσᾰλός (Thessălós, “Thessalian”) + νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”), possibly named for her birth on the anniversary of the Battle of Crocus Field. Sometimes parsed as a clipping within English of Thessalonica. Originally and still chiefly as a calque of Ottoman Turkish سلانیك (Selânik); now with occasional reference to modern Greek Σαλονίκη (Saloníki).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: Salonica, Σαλονίκη, Θεσσαλονίκη, سلانیك