psephomancy means divination by drawing pebbles from a pile. It carries an Arena rating of 1471, earned across 24 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, psephomancy ranks #386 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #500 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #1,015 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,630 of 17,163 for Funniest Words.
psephomancy is pronounced /ˈsɛfəˌmænsi/.
Why “psephomancy” is a great word
PSEPHOMANCY — [Noun] Divination by drawing or casting marked pebbles from a heap. From New Latin psēphomantia, from Ancient Greek ψῆφος (psêphos, "pebble, especially one used for casting a vote") + -μαντεία (-manteía, "divination"). First attested in English in 1727. Unlike lithomancy, which reads meaning in the inherent hues and contours of stones, or the wider genus of cleromancy, which casts any manner of lots, psephomancy is the singular ritual of the marked pebble drawn blindly from the communal pile. It is the dry rattle in a leather pouch, the cool, anonymous weight selected by trembling fingers, and the stark symbol etched upon it—a miniature, fatal ballot cast not for a leader, but for a destiny.
Etymology
From New Latin psēphomantia, from Ancient Greek ψῆφος (psêphos, “pebble used for casting a vote”), + -mancy.
noun
- Divination by drawing pebbles from a pile.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.