Cynocephalus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A creature possessing a humanoid body combined with a dog-like head exemplifies a unique blend of traits
2. This being, often depicted in various mythologies, has characteristics reminiscent of both humans and canines
3. An entity imagined to have the form of a human body topped with the head of a dog

Etymology: The Greek "kynokephalos" meant "dog-headed," built from "kyon" (dog, genitive "kynos") and "kephale" (head). Greek writers used it for a race of dog-headed people, and later for the baboons of Egypt, which were sacred to the god Thoth and had muzzles and faces that struck observers as canine. The Greek word passed into Latin as "cynocephalus," and the English form keeps the Latin spelling, with "cyno-" as the dog element and "-cephalus" as the head element. The same pair of Greek roots gives us "cynic," from "kynikos," literally "dog-like," a label first applied to the followers of Diogenes, who lived in the open and rejected conventional manners. English also borrowed "cephalus" pieces in words like "cephalic," which concerns the head. The Latin form is therefore a learned borrowing rather than an everyday English word.