eureka
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English
Etymology
From Ancient Greek εὕρηκα (heúrēka, “I have found”), perfect active indicative first singular of εὑρίσκω (heurískō, “to find”). Archimedes supposedly exclaimed this when he figured out how to determine the density of an object. First use appears c. 1603 in a text by Philemon Holland.
Pronunciation
Interjection
eureka!
- An exclamation indicating a sudden discovery.
- 1821, Byron, Don Juan:
- Eureka! I have found it! What I mean / To say is, not that love is idleness, / But that in love such idleness has been / An accessory, as I have cause to guess.
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- "Eureka!" he cried, his teeth shining through his beard. "Gentlemen, you may congratulate me and we may congratulate each other. The problem is solved."
- 1970, Peter Porter, The Sanitized Sonnets, The Last of England:
- A page is turned - eureka, a snatch of tune / is playing itself, the piss-proud syllables / are unveiling a difficult prosody.
Derived terms
Translations
exclamation indicating sudden discovery
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Noun
eureka (uncountable)
- Synonym of constantan (“copper-nickel alloy”)
See also
Dutch
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek εὕρηκα (heúrēka, “I have found”), perfect active indicative 1st singular of εὑρίσκω (heurískō, “I find”).
Pronunciation
Interjection
eureka
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek εὕρηκᾰ (heúrēka).
Pronunciation
Interjection
eureka
Spanish
Pronunciation
Interjection
eureka
Further reading
- “eureka”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Categories:
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/iːkə
- Rhymes:English/iːkə/3 syllables
- English lemmas
- English interjections
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- en:History of science
- en:Historical events
- en:Alloys
- en:Nickel
- en:Copper
- Dutch terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- Dutch terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch interjections
- Italian terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- Italian terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Italian 3-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/ɛwreka
- Rhymes:Italian/ɛwreka/3 syllables
- Italian lemmas
- Italian interjections
- Italian terms spelled with K
- Spanish 3-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/eka
- Rhymes:Spanish/eka/3 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish interjections
- Spanish terms spelled with K