pierian means of or relating to Pierides or Muses. It carries an Arena rating of 1523, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, pierian ranks #503 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #1,239 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #3,074 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #6,815 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words.
pierian is pronounced /paɪˈɪəɹiən/.
Why “pierian” is a great word
Pertaining to the Muses, the goddesses of the arts and learning. From the Latin Pierius ("of Pieria"), from Mount Pierus in Thessaly, a region sacred to the Muses, combined with the English suffix -an. Unlike "classical," which broadly evokes the forms of Greco-Roman antiquity, or "erudite," which describes a learned person, "Pierian" denotes the sacred, poetic source itself. It is the taste of water from the Castalian spring, the shadow of the laurel grove at noon, and the cool, high air of that mythical slope—a breath from elsewhere that leaves the receiver permanently altered, standing in a landscape that cannot be returned to but only remembered.
Etymology
Latin Pierius, from Mount Pierus in Thessaly, sacred to the Muses.
adj
- Of or relating to Pierides or Muses.e.g.“Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.” — 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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