Word.ws English Dictionary

Philomela

Philomela proper noun: the sister of Procne who is raped and mutilated by her brother-in-law Tereus and supposedly transformed into a bird by the gods.

Proper noun

Philomela

  1. (Greek) The sister of Procne who is raped and mutilated by her brother-in-law Tereus and supposedly transformed into a bird by the gods.
  2. (literary) The nightingale.
  3. A female given name.

Philomela meaning in Tamil

Philomela in Tamil

இராக்குயில், இரவிற் பாடும் பறவை வகை

Forms of Philomela

alternative form (archaic)Philomel

Origin of Philomela

From Latin Philomela, from Ancient Greek Φιλομήλη (Philomḗlē), from φίλος (phílos, “love”) + μῆλον (mêlon, “apple; fruit; sheep”), but folk-etymologized since at least Ovid's time as "lover of song".

Questions about Philomela

What does Philomela mean?
Philomela means the sister of Procne who is raped and mutilated by her brother-in-law Tereus and supposedly transformed into a bird by the gods.
What is Philomela in Tamil?
Philomela in Tamil is இராக்குயில், இரவிற் பாடும் பறவை வகை. See Philomela meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is Philomela?
Philomela is a proper noun.

Words near Philomela in the dictionary

  1. philomathic
  2. philomathical
  3. philomaths
  4. philomathy
  5. philomel
  6. Philomela
  7. philomels
  8. Philomena
  9. philomene
  10. philomenes
  11. philometrid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Philomela (page history and authors); philomela (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: “Philomela.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/philomela. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.