Word.ws English Dictionary

gorgoneion

gorgoneion noun: a (representation of a) gorgon's head, especially that of Medusa.

Noun

gorgoneion (plural gorgoneia)

  1. A (representation of a) gorgon's head, especially that of Medusa.
    • The gorgoneion or "bodiless head of fright" antedates by many centuries the Gorgon with a woman's body.1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae
    • Pausanias twice mentions a gilt-bronze aigis with the head of Medousa, or gorgoneion, at its center, placed high on the south wall of the Acropolis above the Theater of Dionysos [Figs. 4, 9].1999, Jeffrey M. Hurwit, The Athenian Acropolis, Cambridge University Press, page 273
  2. (historical, Ancient Greek theatre) A theatrical mask depicting the face of a gorgon.

Proper noun capitalized: Gorgoneion

Gorgoneion

  1. (Greek) The head of the gorgon Medusa.
    • On returning home, he turns Polydectes and his people to stone, and then gives the Gorgoneion to his protectress Athena, who fixes it upon her shield.2000, Extract from [1840, Lewis, Donaldson (translators)], K. O. Müller, Introduction to A Scientific Study of Mythology, Burton Feldman, Robert D. Richardson (editors), The Rise of Modern Mythology...
  2. (Greek) A pendant, worn by the goddess Athena, which features an image of Medusa's head.
  3. The smaller and closer-orbiting of the two moons of the main-belt asteroid 93 Minerva.
    Synonyms:
    S/(93) 2 Gorgoneion

gorgoneion meaning in Marathi

gorgoneion in Marathi

A gorgon's head
गोर्गोनेइओन gorgoneion

Synonyms of gorgoneion

  • S/(93) 2 Gorgoneion

Forms of gorgoneion

pluralgorgoneia

Origin of gorgoneion

From Ancient Greek γοργόνειον (gorgóneion), neuter of γοργόνειος (gorgóneios, “pertaining to a Gorgon”).

From Ancient Greek γοργόνειον (gorgóneion), neuter of γοργόνειος (gorgóneios, “pertaining to a gorgon”). The moon was named after the pendant, because of its association with the Greek goddess Athena (and thus with her Roman equivalent, Minerva).

Questions about gorgoneion

What does gorgoneion mean?
Gorgoneion means a (representation of a) gorgon's head, especially that of Medusa.
What is gorgoneion in Marathi?
Gorgoneion in Marathi is गोर्गोनेइओन (gorgoneion). See Gorgoneion meaning in Marathi.
What part of speech is gorgoneion?
Gorgoneion can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of gorgoneion?
The plural of gorgoneion is gorgoneia.

Words near gorgoneion in the dictionary

  1. gorgonacean
  2. gorgonaceans
  3. gorgonaceous
  4. Gorgonean
  5. gorgoneia
  6. gorgoneion
  7. Gorgonesque
  8. gorgonian
  9. gorgonians
  10. gorgoniid
  11. gorgoniids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gorgoneion (page history and authors); Gorgoneion (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “gorgoneion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gorgoneion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.