stamina
pronunciation
How to pronounce stamina in British English:
UK [ˈstæmɪnə]
How to pronounce stamina in American English:
US [ˈstæmɪnə]
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- Noun:
- enduring strength and energy
Word Origin
- stamina
- stamina: [17] Etymologically, stamina is the plural of stamen ‘male reproductive part of a flower’ [17]. The ultimate source of both is Latin stāmen ‘thread of woven cloth’, which went back to Indo-European *stāmen-, a derivative of the base *stā- ‘stand’ (source also of English stand). The application to the plant-part appears to go back to the Roman naturalist Pliny, who used stāmen for the stamens of a sort of lily, which resembled threads of cloth. The Latin plural stāmina was borrowed into English in the metaphorical sense ‘threads of human life, vital capacities’, and by the 18th century it had broadened out to ‘vigour’.=> stamen, stand
- stamina (n.)
- 1670s, "rudiments or original elements of something," from Latin stamina "threads," plural of stamen (genitive staminis) "thread, warp" (see stamen). Sense of "power to resist or recover, strength, endurance" first recorded 1726 (originally plural), from earlier meaning "congenital vital capacities of a person or animal;" also in part from use of the Latin word in reference to the threads spun by the Fates (such as queri nimio de stamine "too long a thread of life"), and partly from a figurative use of Latin stamen "the warp (of cloth)" on the notion of the warp as the "foundation" of a fabric. Related: Staminal.
Example
- 1. Eg. he runs every day to hone his stamina .
- 2. Your guy may worry about his physique , technique , and stamina .
- 3. There are incredible reunions in this book , achieved through impossible stamina and ingenuity .
- 4. When you 've had proper rest , you can accomplish more and maintain the stamina to continue .
- 5. Local reporters say she has " amazing stamina " , rising before dawn to meditate .