salonika
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.07 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
Alternative spelling of Salonica, synonym of Thessaloniki: a port city, the capital of Central Macedonia, in northern Greece.
Etymology
From incomplete latinization of 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. Used chiefly as a calque of Ottoman Turkish سلانیك (Selânik) but with occasional reference to modern Greek Σαλονίκη (Saloníki).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: Σαλονίκη, Θεσσαλονίκη, سلانیك