medusa
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Medusa¹
- /mɪˈdjuːsə/
- /mɪˈdjuːzə/
- /məˈduːsə/ US
Rhymes with -uːsə
Where it comes from
From Middle English Medusa, Meduse, from Latin Medūsa, from Ancient Greek Μέδουσα (Médousa), from μέδω (médō, “rule over”).
proper noun Medousa
- The youngest and only mortal of the three gorgon sisters, killed by Perseus. 1895, Adolf Furtwängler, Eugenie Strong (editor and translator), Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture: A Series of Essays on the History of Art, 2010, →ISBN, page 201, On an Attic vase of the middle of the fifth century the head of Medusa in the hand of Perseus is represented as that of a beautiful woman
medusa²
Where it comes from
By appellativization from Medusa.
noun medusas · medusae · medusæ
-
A jellyfish; specifically, a non-polyp form of individual cnidarians, consisting of a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles.
Typically, what we think of as the jellyfish, the medusa, reproduces sexually, spawning sperm and eggs which, once fertilised, turn into sea anemone-like polyps, which attach themselves to the jellyfish’s bottom or other surfaces.
Similar: non-polyp form of cnidarian
-
Synonym of worm-star.
Similar: worm-star
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: jellyfish, gorgon, gorgoneion, perseus, stheno, euryale, merope, danae, perse, andromeda, morta, melinoe, nemertes, graeae, algol, perigenia
Translations
Talk about this word "medusa." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/medusa. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. medusa. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/medusa "medusa." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/medusa.Cite this
@misc{medusa_2026,
title = {medusa},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/medusa},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
