Pythagoras

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A prominent ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician known for his contributions to the understanding of numbers and geometric relationships
2. A historical figure credited with the development of the Pythagorean theorem, which relates the lengths of the sides of a right triangle
3. A leader of a philosophical and religious movement that emphasized mathematics as a fundamental principle of the universe and the idea that numbers possess intrinsic properties and relationships

Etymology: Pythagoras was a real man, born on the Greek island of Samos around 570 BCE, and the name is his own. It comes from Ancient Greek "Pūthagórās," a compound of "Pȳthō," the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo's oracle at Delphi, and "agorá," the assembly or marketplace. Whether the name was a prophecy or an honour is not recorded, so the story of its meaning is best read as legend rather than fact. The name became a word in English only because the man was remembered for his ideas. Today it is used as a proper noun for the philosopher and for the famous theorem about right-angled triangles, which later generations attributed to him, though the theorem was known in Babylonian mathematics well before his time.

Synonyms: Pythagoras