sphinx

Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

sphinx

(sfĭngks)

1. pl. sphinx·es or sphin·ges (sfĭn′jēz′)

a. Mythology A figure in Egyptian myth having the body of a lion and the head of a man, ram, or hawk.

b. often Sphinx Greek Mythology A winged creature having the head of a woman and the body of a lion, noted for killing those who could not answer its riddle.

2. pl. sphinxes A puzzling or mysterious person.

3. pl. sphinxes also sphinx Variant of sphynx.

[Middle English Spynx, from Latin Sphinx, from Greek.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sphinx

(sfɪŋks)

1. (Classical Myth & Legend) Greek myth a monster with a woman's head and a lion's body. She lay outside Thebes, asking travellers a riddle and killing them when they failed to answer it. Oedipus answered the riddle and the Sphinx then killed herself

2. (Archaeology) the huge statue of a sphinx near the pyramids at El Gîza in Egypt, of which the head is a carved portrait of the fourth-dynasty Pharaoh, Chephrēn

[C16: via Latin from Greek, apparently from sphingein to hold fast]

sphinx

(sfɪŋks)

n, pl sphinxes or sphinges (ˈsfɪndʒiːz)

1. (Archaeology) any of a number of huge stone statues built by the ancient Egyptians, having the body of a lion and the head of a man

2. an inscrutable person

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sphinx

(sfɪŋks)

n., pl. sphinx•es, sphin•ges (ˈsfɪn dʒiz)

a. an ancient Egyptian figure of an imaginary creature having the body of a lion and the head of a human or sometimes an animal.

b. (usu. cap.) the colossal recumbent stone figure of this kind near the pyramids of Giza.

2. (cap.) (in Greek myth) a monster, usu. represented as having the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle, who killed wayfarers unable to answer the riddle she posed to them.

3. a mysterious, inscrutable person or thing.

[1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin < Greek Sphínx, Sphíx, Phíx]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	sphinx - an inscrutable person who keeps his thoughts and intentions secret individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do"
	2.	Sphinx - (Greek mythology) a riddling winged monster with a woman's head and breast on a lion's body; daughter of Typhon Greek mythology - the mythology of the ancient Greeks mythical creature, mythical monster - a monster renowned in folklore and myth
	3.	sphinx - one of a number of large stone statues with the body of a lion and the head of a man that were built by the ancient Egyptians statue - a sculpture representing a human or animal

Translations

sfinx

Sphinx

σφίγγα

esfinge

Sfinkssphinx

sfinksi

sphinx

szfinx

sfinge

sfinksas

sphynx

sfinks

esfinge

sfinx

сфинкс

sfinga

gåtasfinx

sphinx

[sfɪŋks] N (sphinxes (pl)) → esfinge f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

sphinx

[ˈsfɪŋks] n → sphinx m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

sphinx

n → Sphinx f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

sphinx

[sfɪŋks] n (also) (fig) → sfinge f

References in classic literature ?

It is my dearest ambition to be as impassive as the Sphinx."

View in context

Fragment #3 -- Scholiast on Euripides Phoen., 1750: The authors of the "Story of Oedipus" (say) of the Sphinx: `But furthermore (she killed) noble Haemon, the dear son of blameless Creon, the comeliest and loveliest of boys.'

View in context

Arriving at Thebes he answered the riddle of the Sphinx and the grateful Thebans made their deliverer king.

View in context

In the first place, let me read to you a schoolboy account of the genus Sphinx, of the family Crepuscularia of the order Lepidoptera, of the class of Insecta -- or insects.

View in context

I wonder if they'll look up at the Sphinx and knit," laughed Priscilla.

View in context

It was of white marble, in shape something like a winged sphinx, but the wings, instead of being carried vertically at the sides, were spread so that it seemed to hover.

View in context

If the Sperm Whale be physiognomically a Sphinx, to the phrenologist his brain seems that geometrical circle which it is impossible to square.

View in context

As near and proper to us is also that old fable of the Sphinx, who was said to sit in the road-side and put riddles to every passenger.

View in context

Almost imperceptibly the eyes settled into a watching that was like to the stony stare of a sphinx across aching and eternal desert sands.

View in context

Sabin's face was as the face of a sphinx. He made no sign.

View in context

'You are nothing better than a sphinx! And a married sphinx isn't a--isn't a nice confidential husband,' said Bella, in a tone of injury.

View in context

It was a People's Course, the lecture on the Pyramids, and Jo rather wondered at the choice of such a subject for such an audience, but took it for granted that some great social evil would be remedied or some great want supplied by unfolding the glories of the Pharaohs to an audience whose thoughts were busy with the price of coal and flour, and whose lives were spent in trying to solve harder riddles than that of the Sphinx.