This week's theme
Words with hidden animals

This week's words
capricious
bucolic
cuckold
lyceum
jubilee

---

Discuss
Feedback
RSS/XML

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(ly-SEE-uhm)

MEANING:

noun
1. A lecture hall or an institution that provides public lectures, discussions, concerts, etc.
2. A secondary school.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin lyceum, from Greek Lykeion, an epithet of Apollo meaning wolf-slayer, from lykos (wolf) which also gave us words such as lupine (like a wolf) and lycanthropy (the delusion of being a wolf). In ancient Greece lyceum was a gymnasium so named because it was near a temple of Apollo. Aristotle established his school here. Earliest documented use: 1579.

USAGE:

"Liberty Hall served as a lyceum for reading and speaking engagements."
Steve Urbon; A Tale of One City; The Standard-Times (New Bedford, Massachusetts); Dec 25, 2011.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: