Polyxenous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Welcoming to numerous visitors or strangers ; living on or infesting many different host species
2. Offering hospitality freely to a great many guests ; parasitic on or found in a wide range of host organisms
3. Describing one who receives many guests kindly ; used of a parasite that attacks numerous different host species

Etymology: Ancient Greek "xenos" meant both "stranger" and "guest," a double sense that made hospitality a serious obligation. Add "polys," meaning "many," and you get "polyxenos," describing someone who welcomes many strangers. English borrowed the adjective "polyxenous" directly from Greek, and it remains a learned, bookish term. The same root appears in an unexpected place. In 1898, the chemists William Ramsay and Morris Travers named a rare, inert gas "xenon," from the Greek "xenon," the neuter form of "xenos," because it was so scarce and unfamiliar to them. "Xenophobia," a much later coinage, also comes from "xenos," though its sense of fear of foreigners reverses the Greek ideal of welcoming them.

Synonyms: hospitable

Antonyms: inhospitable