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pendragon

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pendragon¹

  • /pɛnˈdɹæɡ(ə)n/ UK
  • /pɛnˈdɹæɡ(ə)n/ US
  • /ˈpɛnˌdɹæɡ(ə)n/ US

Rhymes with -æɡən

Where it comes from

From Middle English Pendragon, borrowed from Welsh pendragon (“chief war leader”), from pen (“head; chief; principal, supreme”) (ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kʷennom (“head”)) + dragon (“dragon; commander, war leader”) (from Latin dracō (“serpent, snake; dragon”), from Ancient Greek δρᾰ́κων (drắkōn, “serpent; dragon”), possibly from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)”), from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see”)). Compare Late Latin īnsulāris dracō (literally “dragon of the island”), used by the monk Saint Gildas (c. 500 – c. 570 AD) in De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain) as an epithet of Maelgwn Gwynedd (died c. 547), the king of Gwynedd.

noun pendragons · Pendragon

  1. Also capitalized as Pendragon: a title assumed by the ancient British chiefs when called to lead other chiefs: chief war leader, chieftain, dictator, despot or king. [I]n the reign of Henry the Second, a body happening, by chance, to be dug up near Glastonbury Abbey, without any symptoms of putrefaction or decay, the Welch, the descendants of the Ancient Britons, tenacious of the dignity and reputation of that illustrious hero [King Arthur], vainly supposed it c

Pendragon²

  • /pɛnˈdɹæɡ(ə)n/ UK
  • /pɛnˈdɹæɡ(ə)n/ US
  • /ˈpɛnˌdɹæɡ(ə)n/ US

Where it comes from

See pendragon.

proper noun

  1. An epithet of Uther, the father of King Arthur. It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon, when he was king of all England, and so reigned, that there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him long time.
  2. An epithet or surname of King Arthur. At last he got his breath and answer'd, 'One, / One have I seen—that other, our liege lord, / The dread Pendragon, Britain's king of kings, / Of whom the people talk mysteriously, / He will be there—then were I stricken blind / That minute, I might say that I have seen.'

noun Pendragons

  1. Alternative letter-case form of pendragon [I]n the reign of Henry the Second, a body happening, by chance, to be dug up near Glastonbury Abbey, without any symptoms of putrefaction or decay, the Welch, the descendants of the Ancient Britons, tenacious of the dignity and reputation of that illustrious hero [King Arthur], vainly supposed it c

Translations

Every language

noun chief war leader, dictator, or king

한국어펜드래건 pendeuraegeon
Portuguêspendragon
Françaispendragon

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MLA

"pendragon." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pendragon. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

pendragon. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pendragon

Chicago

"pendragon." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pendragon.

BibTeX
@misc{pendragon_2026,
  title = {pendragon},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pendragon},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}