Word.ws English Dictionary

phrygian

Syllables: Phryg·i·anUK/ˈfɹɪ.d͡ʒɪ.ən//ˈfɹɪ.d͡ʒi.ən/

phrygian is the alternative letter-case form of Phrygian.

Adjective capitalized: Phrygian

Phrygian (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to Phrygia, its people, or their culture.
  2. Written or spoken in the Phrygian language.
    • ‘Then one day one of the infants stretched out his little hands to the shepherd and exclaimed bekos, which is the Phrygian word for bread.’2022, R. F. Kuang, Babel, HarperVoyager, page 114
  3. In the Phrygian mode.

Noun capitalized: Phrygian

Phrygian (plural Phrygians)

  1. A native or inhabitant of Phrygia.
    • ‘And so Psammetichus decided the Phrygians must have been the first race on earth, and Phrygian the first language.’2022, R. F. Kuang, Babel, HarperVoyager, page 114
  2. A Montanist.

Proper noun capitalized: Phrygian

Phrygian

  1. The language of the Phrygian people.
  2. Phrygian mode

Forms of phrygian

pluralPhrygians

Origin of phrygian

From Latin Phrygiānus + English -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Phrygianus is derived from Phrygia + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’); and Phrygia is from Ancient Greek Φρῠγῐ́ᾱ (Phrŭgĭ́ā, “region in Anatolia”), from Φρῠ́ξ (Phrŭ́x, “person from Phrygia”) (further etymology unknown, possibly from Phrygian or related to Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to ascend, rise up; to be elevated, up high”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns).

Words formed from phrygian

Phrases with phrygian

Questions about phrygian

What does phrygian mean?
Phrygian means of or relating to Phrygia, its people, or their culture.
What is phrygian the alternative letter-case form of?
Phrygian is the alternative letter-case form of Phrygian.
What part of speech is phrygian?
Phrygian can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce phrygian?
Phrygian is pronounced /ˈfɹɪ.d͡ʒɪ.ən/ (UK).

Words near phrygian in the dictionary

  1. phrygana
  2. phryganas
  3. phryganeid
  4. phryganeids
  5. Phrygia
  6. phrygian
  7. Phrygian cadence
  8. Phrygian cadences
  9. Phrygian cap
  10. Phrygian caps
  11. Phrygian mode

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: phrygian (page history and authors); Phrygian (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-Phrygian.oga.

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