sphinx
/ˈsfɪŋks/
sphinx noun: a creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal, commonly a lion.
Noun (1)
sphinx (plural sphinxes or sphinges)
- A creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal, commonly a lion.
- [W]hatsoe'er of strange / Sculptured on alabaster obelisk, / Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphynx, / Dark Æthiopia in her desert hills. / Conceals.1815 September 10 – December 14, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude”, in Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude: And Other Poems, London: […] Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, […]; and...
- A person who keeps their thoughts and intentions secret; an enigmatic or impassive person.
- ...it is clear that judges are no longer required to be as passive as they once were; to be what I call sphinx judges. We now not only accept that a judge may intervene in the adversarial debate, but also believe that it is sometimes essential for him to do so for justice in fact to be done.1985 February 21, Antonio Lamer, “Brouillard Also Known As Chatel v. The Queen, 1985 CanLII 56 (SCC)”, in CanLII, retrieved 22 Oct 2021
- Synonyms:
- enigma
- A mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), formerly classified as a baboon, and called sphinx baboon.
- A sphinx moth.
- A sphincter.
- Constance said boastfully, ‘My sphinxes are strong and in good repair. I order you to come.’1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 836
Verb
sphinx (third-person singular simple present sphinxes, present participle sphinxing, simple past and past participle sphinxed)
- To decorate with sphinxes.
- a marble sphinxed chimney-piece
- To adopt the posture of the Sphinx.
- A hot lion with a very bloated stomach … will adopt either a sphinxed or a squatting posture which takes some of the weight off its belly.
- Several animals maintained either a crouched … or a sphinxing posture (abdomen on the floor)
- To be inscrutable, often through silence.
- The sphinxèd riddle of the Universe,
Nature's unsolved enigma, who may prove?1900, Leigh Gordon Giltner, “Love and Death”, in The Path of Dreams: Poems, page 27 - Then there are the folks trying to do a Garbo on us[…]Janet Gaynor, so they tell, is sphinxing it and has gone into a Retirement, with "Nothing to Say — Please Go Away" written on the doormat.1933 February, Gladys Hall, “The Hollywood Frivolities of 1932”, in Motion Picture, volume 45, page 29
- The sphinxèd riddle of the Universe,
- To behave in a manner characteristic of the Sphinx.
- Perhaps Nature is sphinxing us on purpose. Whatever her objects may be, perhaps she gets her work done better when she appeals to our gambling instincts. If you knew for certain exactly how your marriage was going to turn out[…]1933, Roycroft Junto Outlines, The Roycrofters, page 412
- And then he summarizes his fears with a reference to that icon which[…]stood for the feminine threat to civilization: “Crowds are somewhat like the sphinx of ancient fable: it is necessary to arrive at a solution of the problems offered by their psychology or to resign ourselves to being devoured...1986, Andreas Huyssen, After the Great Divide: Modernism, Mass Culture, Postmodernism, page 53
Proper noun capitalized: Sphinx
the Sphinx
- An ancient, large statue in Egypt, with the face of a man and the body of a lion, lying near the Great Pyramids.
- Synonyms:
- the Great Sphinx, the Great Sphinx of Giza
- One of the many offspring of Typhon and Echidna, a winged lion-like creature with a woman's face, who dwelt near the city of Thebes in Boeotia and terrorized travelers by posing riddles, killing those who failed to answer correctly; after Oedipus solved her riddle, she committed suicide out of frustration.
- Synonyms:
- the Theban Sphinx, the Thebean Sphinx, the Sphinx of Thebes
Noun (2) capitalized: Sphinx
Sphinx (plural Sphinxes or Sphinges)
- Alternative letter-case form of sphinx (“a sculpture representing the Theban Sphinx”)
- In the third, which leadeth to the fonts and walkes, are two Sphinges very curiouſly carued in braſſe […]1776, Coryat’s Crudities, page 35
sphinx meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sphinx in Hindi
- स्फिंक्स, स्फिन्क्स, स्फ़िंक्स
sphinx in Tamil
- ஸ்ஃபிங்க்ஸ், ஸ்ஃபின்க்ஸ்
sphinx in Marathi
- mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal
- स्फिंक्स sphiṅksa
sphinx in Urdu
- اسفنکس
More languagesFewer languages
- sphinx in Bengali
- স্ফিংক্স, স্ফিন্ক্স
- sphinx in Telugu
- స్ఫింక్స్, స్ఫిన్క్స్
- sphinx in Malayalam
- സ്ഫിങ്ക്സ്, സ്ഫിൻക്സ്
- sphinx in Kannada
- ಸ್ಫಿಂಕ್ಸ್, ಸಿಂಹನಾರಿ
- sphinx in Punjabi
- ਸਪਿੰਕਸ
- sphinx in Gujarati
- સ્ફિંક્સ, સ્ફિન્ક્સ, સ્ફીન્ક્સ
- sphinx in Odia
- ସ୍ଫିଂକ୍ସ, ସ୍ଫିନ୍କ୍ସ, ସ୍ଫିଙ୍କସ୍
- sphinx in Nepali
- स्फिंक्स, स्फिन्क्स, स्फिनक्स
- sphinx in Tagalog
- espinghe
- sphinx in Arabic
- أَبُو الهَوْل ʔabū l-hawl
- sphinx in Malay
- sfinks
- sphinx in Indonesian
- sfinks
- sphinx in Thai
- สฟิงซ์ sà-fíng
- sphinx in Vietnamese
- nhân sư
Synonyms of sphinx
- enigma
- the Great Sphinx
- the Great Sphinx of Giza
- the Theban Sphinx
- the Thebean Sphinx
- the Sphinx of Thebes
Forms of sphinx
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sphinxes |
| plural | sphinges |
| plural | Sphinxes |
| plural | Sphinges |
| alternative form (dated) | sphynx |
| alternative form (obsolete) | spynx |
| alternative form (obsolete) | phynx |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | sphinxes |
| present participle | sphinxing |
| past participle | sphinxed |
| past | sphinxed |
| Proper noun | |
| alternative form (dated) | Sphynx |
Origin of sphinx
From Sphinx, from Middle English Spynx, from Latin Sphinx, from Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx), perhaps either from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “to squeeze, to strangle”) (whence also sphincter), of Pre-Greek origin, or from Egyptian Szp:p-A53-anx-n:x (šzp-ꜥnḫ, “divine image”, literally “living image”).
From Middle English Spynx, from Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx), perhaps from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “bind tightly, to strangle”). The appurtenance of Egyptian Szp:p-A53 (šzp, “image, statue, sphinx”) or Szp:p-A53-anx-n:x (šzp-ꜥnḫ, “living image”) remains unclear.
Words formed from sphinx
- Achemon sphinx
- Nessus sphinx
- satellite sphinx
- sphinx-faced
- sphinx-figure
- sphinx-form
- sphinx-guarded
- sphinxial
- sphinxian
- sphinxily
- sphinxine
- sphinxineness
- sphinxiness
- sphinxish
- sphinxishness
- sphinxity
- sphinxlike
- sphinx-lined
- sphinx-look
- sphinx moth
- sphinxoid
- sphinxy
- Tantalus sphinx
- tomato sphinx
- Virginia creeper sphinx
- white-lined sphinx
Phrases with sphinx
Words that rhyme with sphinx
Questions about sphinx
- What does sphinx mean?
- Sphinx means a creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal, commonly a lion.
- What is sphinx in Hindi?
- Sphinx in Hindi is स्फिंक्स, स्फिन्क्स, स्फ़िंक्स. See Sphinx meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sphinx?
- Sphinx can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce sphinx?
- Sphinx is pronounced /ˈsfɪŋks/.
- What is the plural of sphinx?
- The plural of sphinx is sphinxes.
Words near sphinx in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sphinx (page history and authors); Sphinx (page history and authors); sphinx (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sphinx (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sphinx (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sphinx (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sphinx (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sphinx (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sphinx (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sphinx (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sphinx (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sphinx (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sphinx (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-sphinx.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sphinx.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sphinx. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.