sphinx
Pronunciation: /sfɪŋks/
noun
- 1 (Sphinx) Greek Mythology a winged monster of Thebes, having a woman’s head and a lion’s body. It propounded a riddle about the three ages of man, killing those who failed to solve it, until Oedipus was successful, whereupon the Sphinx committed suicide.
- an ancient Egyptian stone figure having a lion’s body and a human or animal head, especially the huge statue near the Pyramids at Giza.
- an enigmatic or inscrutable person: it drove him mad when she turned herself into a sphinx as a ruse to avoid facing the truth
- 2North American term for hawkmoth.
Origin:
late Middle English: via Latin from Greek Sphinx, apparently from sphingein 'draw tight'
Spelling help
Remember that sphinx is spelled with sph- at the beginning.