Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of or pertaining to naked boys: applied by the ancient Greeks to dances and gymnastic exercises performed, as at public festivals, by boys or youths unclothed.
- In ornithology, same as
psilopædic .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Zoöl.) Having young that are naked when hatched; psilopædic; -- said of certain birds.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective zoology Having
young that arenaked whenhatched ;psilopaedic .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Ancient Greek naked + a child.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word gymnopaedic.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
sionnach commented on the word gymnopaedic
Yeah! I'm so excited that this word exists, because it has an all-too-rare sequence of four consecutive letters. It means "having young that are naked when hatched", a meaning which I would not have guessed in a million years.
The composer Erik Satie wrote a series of three pieces for piano, called Gymnopédies 1-3, two of which were later arranged for orchestra by Debussy. According to Wikipedia:
The pieces are written in 3/4 time and in a similar structure with a similar theme. The Gymnopédies are ethereal, atmospheric pieces regarded as precursors to modern ambient music; in fact, Brian Eno, the pioneering figure of ambient music, has cited Satie as a prime influence.
February 16, 2007
uselessness commented on the word gymnopaedic
That's awesome! Not only four consecutive letters, but also "ae," which is always a bonus.
As for me, I was born fully clothed.
February 16, 2007