different between phoenix vs griffin

English

Alternative forms

• phenix (archaic)
• phœnix (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old English and Old French fenix, from Medieval Latin phenix, from Latin phoen?x, from Ancient Greek ?????? (phoînix), from Egyptian bnw (boinu, “grey heron”). The grey heron was venerated at Heliopolis and associated in Egypt with the cyclical renewal of life because the bird rises in flight at dawn and migrates back every year in the flood season to inhabit the Nile waters.

Pronunciation

• enPR: f?'n?ks, IPA^(key): /?fi?n?ks/
• Rhymes: -i?n?ks

Noun

phoenix (plural phoenix or phoenixes or phoenices)

1. (mythology) A mythological bird, said to be the only one of its kind, which lives for 500 years and then dies by burning to ashes on a pyre of its own making, ignited by the sun. It then arises anew from the ashes.
2. (figuratively) Anything that is reborn after apparently being destroyed.

3. (Chinese mythology) A mythological Chinese chimerical bird whose physical body symbolizes the six celestial bodies; a fenghuang.
4. (historical) A Greek silver coin used briefly from 1828 to 1832, divided into 100 lepta.

Translations

Further reading

• phoenix (mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• fenghuang on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• phoenix (currency) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?p?oe?.ni?ks/, [?p?oe?ni?ks?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?fe.niks/, [?f??niks]

Noun

phoen?x f (genitive phoen?cis); third declension

1. phoenix

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Noun

phoen?x m (genitive phoen?cis); third declension

1. Phoenician

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Adjective

phoen?x (genitive phoen?cis); third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem)

1. Phoenician

Declension

Third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem).

Synonyms

• (Phoenician): phoen?cius

Related terms

(Phoenician):

• Phoen?cia
• phoen?cius

References

(phoenix):

• phoenix, ?cis, m. in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• phoen?x ?cis ?acc. ?ca, O.), m in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• phoenix in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

(Phoenician):

• Phoenix, ?cis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Phoen?ces, um, m. and sing. Phoenix s.v. Phoen?c?, ?s, f. in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

English

Alternative forms

• grifon, gryfon (obsolete)
• gryphon
• griffon

Etymology

From Middle English griffoun, from Old French griffon, from Latin gryphus, from Ancient Greek ???? (grúps).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???f?n/
• Rhymes: -?f?n

Noun

griffin (plural griffins)

1. A mythical beast having the body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle.
2. A large vulture (Gyps fulvus) found in the mountainous parts of Southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor, supposed to be the "eagle" of the Bible.
3. An English variety of apple.
4. (dated, India) A person who has just arrived from Europe.
5. A cadet newly arrived in British India: half English, half Indian.
6. A watchful guardian, especially a duenna in charge of a young woman.

Derived terms

• bearded griffin (Gypaetus barbatus)
• griffinish
• griffinism

Descendants

• Chinese Pidgin English: griffin

Translations

References

Anagrams

• riffing

Chinese Pidgin English

Etymology

From English griffin (“newcomer to India”).

Noun

griffin

1. A person who spent less than a year in China.
2. A racing pony in its first season.

References

• Gow, W. S. P. (1924) Gow’s Guide to Shanghai, 1924: A Complete, Concise and Accurate Handbook of the City and District, Especially Compiled for the Use of Tourists and Commercial Visitors to the Far East, Shanghai, page 105:

  Griffin: (Anglo-Indian) a newcomer. One with less than a years’^[sic] residence in China. Also a racing pony in his first season. (“China ponies” are bred in Mongolia and brought down annually).