dragon means the fifth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
dragon is pronounced /ˈdɹæɡən/.
Why “dragon” is a great word
A mythical reptilian creature, often depicted as a large, winged, fire-breathing monster in Western traditions or as a beneficent, snake-like being in Eastern Asian cultures, from Middle English dragoun, from Old French dragon, from Latin dracō(n), from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, "a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon"), probably from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, "to see clearly"). Unlike a wyrm, which evokes a limbless, earthbound, and purely sinister serpent, or a drake, a diminished and domesticated cousin, the dragon contains multitudes. It is the amber eye that sees clearly through centuries of smoke, the silent coiling of a celestial guardian around a jade pillar, and the immense, gem-encrusted weight shifting in a subterranean hoard—a mirror held up not to nature, but to the human hunger for power that awes, terrifies, and, in rare moments, bestows wisdom.
Etymology
From Middle English dragoun, borrowed from Old French dragon, from Latin dracō(n), from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon”), probably from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see clearly”). Displaced Old English wyrm, whence modern worm. Mostly displaced Old English draca (whence modern drake)—from the same Latin source, as are Draco, Dracon, dracone, and dragoon.
name
- The fifth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
- Synonym of Devil.
noun
- A mythical reptilian or serpentine creature.; In European mythologies, a gigantic beast, typically reptilian with leathery bat-like wings, lion-like claws, scaly skin and a lizard-like body, often a monster with fiery breath.
- A mythical reptilian or serpentine creature.; In Eastern Asian mythologies, a large, snake-like monster with the eyes of a hare, the horns of a stag and the claws of a tiger, usually beneficent.
- An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:; A very large snake; a python.
- An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:; Any of various agamid lizards of the genera Draco, Physignathus or Pogona.
- An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:; A Komodo dragon.
- An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:; A sea dragon.
- The constellation Draco.e.g.“My father compounded with my mother vnder the Dragons taile, and my nativity was vnder Vrsa Maior.”
- A fierce and unpleasant woman.e.g.“She’s a bit of a dragon.”
- An unattractive woman.
- The (historical) Chinese empire or the People's Republic of China.e.g.“Napoleon already warned of the awakening of the Dragon.”
- Something very formidable or dangerous.
- A class of playing tiles consisting of three types: white dragons, green dragons, and red dragons.
- A luminous exhalation from marshy ground, seeming to move through the air like a winged serpent.
- A type of musket with a short, large-calibre barrel with a flared muzzle, often hooked to a swivel attached to a soldier's belt.e.g.“our dragoons were so denominated because they were armed with dragons, that is, with short muskets, which spouted fire like dragons, and had the head of a dragon wrought upon their muzzle”
- A background process similar to a daemon.
- Synonym of drag queen.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- firedrake 87% match — A fire-breathing dragon. vs dragon →
- wyvern 86% match — A draconian creature possessing wings, only two legs and usually a barbed tail. vs dragon →
- basilisk 85% match — A mythical snake-like dragon, so venomous that even its gaze is deadly. vs dragon →
- linnorm 85% match — A wingless bipedal dragon; a lindworm. vs dragon →
- hydra 84% match — A dragon-like creature with many heads and the ability to regrow them when maimed. vs dragon →
- lindworm 84% match — A wingless serpentine dragon having two arms. vs dragon →
- amphiptere 83% match — A type of winged serpent, with two bat-like wings and typically with no other limbs. vs dragon →
- draconcopedes 83% match — A legendary being with a human head, and sometimes also human arms and a torso, and the rest of the body of a snake. vs dragon →