Dragon
nounA large mythical reptile, usually shown with wings and the ability to breathe fire.
How to spell dragon
6 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce dragon
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does dragon mean?
- nounA large mythical reptile, usually shown with wings and the ability to breathe fire.
Dragon in a sentence
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The children's book featured a friendly dragon who guarded a castle.
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A carved dragon coiled around the temple gate.
Where does dragon come from?
Language of origin: Greek
The word traces back to the ancient Greek drakon, which meant a large serpent or snake and was related to a verb sense of 'to see clearly' or 'to watch', perhaps because the creature was imagined with a sharp, glittering, watchful stare. Latin took it up as draco, still meaning a great serpent, and the word then passed into Old French as dragon before entering English in the 1200s. In medieval stories the meaning swelled from a mere giant snake into the winged, fire-breathing beast of legend that we picture today. The same draco root survives in 'draconian', which comes not from the monster but from Draco, the harsh Athenian lawgiver. The spelling stays simple and stable, with the single g and the -on ending coming straight from the Latin and French forms.
How the word is built
- drag- (from Greek drakon: serpent, large snake)
- -on (noun ending carried through Latin and French)
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