Dictionary

Achilles en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• (General-American) audio
• /əˈkɪliːz/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Achillēs, from Ancient Greek Ἀχιλλεύς (Akhilleús).

Meanings

1. (Greek) A mythical semidivine hero, the son of Peleus by the nereid Thetis, and prince of the Myrmidons, who features in the Iliad as a central character and the foremost warrior of the Achaean (Greek) camp.
   • In the last third of the Iliad, Achilles’ beloved companion, Patroklos, and his bitter enemy, Hektor, die wearing Achilles’ armor, their deaths prefiguring Achilles’ own. 2012, Richard Holway, Becoming Achilles: Child-Sacrifice, War, and Misrule in the Iliad and Beyond, Rowman & Littlefield (Lexington Books), page 153:
   • Achilles! a drayman, a porter, a very camel. c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
   • Achilles’ wrath, to Greece the direful spring Of woes unnumber’d, heavenly goddess, sing! 1715, Homer, chapter 1, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
   • If once the lamentation is heard, it will ring out again, of the short-lived Achilles, of the leaf-like change and vicissitude of the human race, of the decay of the heroic age. 1910, Friedrich Nietzsche, chapter 3, in William A. Haussmann, transl., edited by Oscar Levy, The Birth of Tragedy; or, Hellenism and Pessimism (The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche; 1), Edinburgh; London: T. N. Foulis, page 36:
2. (rare) A male given name from Ancient Greek.
3. The Greek camp Trojan asteroid 588 Achilles.

Forms

Deriveds

Achilles number · Patrochilles · achillorrhaphy · Achilles tendon · Achilles reflex · achillotomy · Achilles jerk · Achilles heel · Achillean

Translations (64)

ja アキレウス (Greek mythical hero) · pl Achil (Greek mythical hero) · de Achilleus (Greek mythical hero) · scn Achilli (Greek mythical hero) · nb Akilles (Greek mythical hero) · ja アキレス (Greek mythical hero) · id Achilles (Greek mythical hero) · bg Ахилес (Greek mythical hero) · km អាឈីល (Greek mythical hero) · hy Աքիլլես (Greek mythical hero) · fr Achille (Greek mythical hero) · hu Akhilleusz (Greek mythical hero) · la Achillēs (Greek mythical hero) · uk Ахіллес (Greek mythical hero) · kl Achilleusi (Greek mythical hero) · cs Achilleus (Greek mythical hero) · mk Ахил (Greek mythical hero) · cop ⲁⲭⲓⲗⲗⲉⲩⲉ (Greek mythical hero) · ga Aichill (Greek mythical hero) · tr Aşil (Greek mythical hero) · ro Ahile (Greek mythical hero) · my အာခိလိ (Greek mythical hero) · eo Akilo (Greek mythical hero) · ka აქილევსი (Greek mythical hero) · sv Achilles (Greek mythical hero) · es Aquiles (Greek mythical hero) · nl Achilles (Greek mythical hero) · sh Ahilej (Greek mythical hero) · ru Ахилле́с (Greek mythical hero) · grc Ἀχιλλεύς (Greek mythical hero) · hi अकिलीज़ (Greek mythical hero) · sh Ahil (Greek mythical hero) · ar أَخِيل (Greek mythical hero) · vi A-sin (Greek mythical hero) · cmn 阿喀琉斯 (Greek mythical hero) · sq Akil (Greek mythical hero) · he אכילס (Greek mythical hero) · pt Aquiles (Greek mythical hero) · scn Achiḍḍi (Greek mythical hero) · bg Ахил (Greek mythical hero) · iu ᐊᑭᓪᓕᔅ (Greek mythical hero) · my အခိလေး (Greek mythical hero) · uk Ахі́лл (Greek mythical hero) · fur Achil (Greek mythical hero) · fi Akilles (Greek mythical hero) · el Αχιλλέας (Greek mythical hero) · fi Akhilleus (Greek mythical hero) · lv Achilas (Greek mythical hero) · et Achilleus (Greek mythical hero) · ia Achilles (Greek mythical hero) · ru Ахи́лл (Greek mythical hero) · sv Akilles (Greek mythical hero) · it Achille (Greek mythical hero) · xcl Աքիլլէս (Greek mythical hero) · eu Akil (Greek mythical hero) · eo Aĥilo (Greek mythical hero) · ca Aquil·les (Greek mythical hero) · pl Achilles (Greek mythical hero) · da Achilleus (Greek mythical hero) · my အခိလေဝ (Greek mythical hero) · ko 아킬레스 (Greek mythical hero) · sl Ahíl (Greek mythical hero) · my အာခိလျု (Greek mythical hero) · cmn 阿基里斯 (Greek mythical hero)