Am·a·zon ( m  -z n , -zn)n. 1. Greek Mythology A member of a nation of women warriors reputed to have lived in Scythia. 2. often amazon A tall, aggressive, strong-willed woman. 3. A small green parrot of the genus Amazona, having a short tail and red-and-blue wings, native to Central and South America. [Middle English, from Latin Am  z n, from Greek Amazn, probably of Iranian origin.]Word History: In classical legend the Amazons were a tribe of warrior women. Their name is supposedly derived from Greek a-mazos, "without a breast," because according to the legend they cut off their right breasts so as to be better able to shoot with a bow and arrow. This folk etymology, like most folk etymologies, is incorrect, but the Amazons of legend are not so completely different from the historical Amazons, who were also warriors. The historical Amazons were Scythians, an Iranian people renowned for their cavalry. The first Greeks to come into contact with the Iranians were the Ionians, who lived on the coast of Asia Minor and were constantly threatened by the Persians, the most important of the Iranian peoples. Amaz n is the Ionian Greek form of the Iranian word ha-mazan, "fighting together." The regular Greek form would be hamazn, but because the Ionians dropped their aitches like Cockneys, hamazn became amazn, the form taken into the other Greek dialects. |
Amazon
Noun
1. a strong and powerful woman
2. Greek myth one of a race of women warriors of Scythia [Greek]
Amazonian adj
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  amazon - a large strong and aggressive womanadult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted" |
| 2. | Amazon - (Greek mythology) one of a nation of women warriors of Scythia (who burned off the right breast in order to use a bow and arrow more effectively) Greek mythology - the mythology of the ancient Greeks mythical being - an imaginary being of myth or fable | |
| 3. |  Amazon - a major South American river; arises in the Andes and flows eastward into the South Atlantic; the world's 2nd longest river (4000 miles)Brasil, Brazil, Federative Republic of Brazil - the largest Latin American country and the largest Portuguese speaking country in the world; located in the central and northeastern part of South America; world's leading coffee exporter Peru, Republic of Peru - a republic in western South America; achieved independence from Spain in 1821; was the heart of the Inca empire from the 12th to 16th centuries | |
| 4. | amazon - mainly green tropical American parrots parrot - usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds Amazona, genus Amazona - a genus of Psittacidae |
Translations
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