unicorn
pronunciation
How to pronounce unicorn in British English:
UK [ˈju:nɪkɔ:n]
How to pronounce unicorn in American English:
US [ˈjunɪkɔrn]
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- Noun:
- an imaginary creature represented as a white horse with a long horn growing from its forehead
Word Origin
- unicorn
- unicorn: [13] Legends of a one-horned beast abounded in ancient times, perhaps inspired by the rhinoceros, or a sideways view of an antelope. When the early Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible came across the word re’em, which seems to have denoted a sort of wild ox, they rendered it monókerōs (literally ‘onehorn’), perhaps identifying it with the rhinoceros. The Vulgate turned this into Latin as unicornis, a noun use of an already existent Latin adjective meaning ‘one-horned’, formed from ūnus ‘one’ and cornū ‘horn’ (a relative of English horn).=> horn
- unicorn (n.)
- early 13c., from Old French unicorne, from Late Latin unicornus (Vulgate), from noun use of Latin unicornis (adj.) "having one horn," from uni- "one" (see uni-) + cornus "horn," from PIE *ker- (1) "horn; head, uppermost part of the body" (see horn (n.)). The Late Latin word translates Greek monoceros, itself rendering Hebrew re'em (Deut. xxxiii.17 and elsewhere), which probably was a kind of wild ox. According to Pliny, a creature with a horse's body, deer's head, elephant's feet, lion's tail, and one black horn two cubits long projecting from its forehead. Compare German Einhorn, Welsh ungorn, Breton uncorn, Old Church Slavonic ino-rogu.
Example
- 1. I 'll give you one hint : unicorn slumber parties !
- 2. There were still spots of unicorn blood here and there along the winding path .
- 3. When I was a teenage girl , my best friend was a majestic unicorn .
- 4. The little-known fact is , every abstinent teen gets her own unicorn as her bff .
- 5. Naughtiest moment : the killer stabs a young woman to death with a unicorn christmas ornament .