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Sap·phic (săfĭk)
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adj.
1. Of or relating to the Greek poet Sappho.
2.
a. Of, relating to, or being a verse characteristic of Sappho, containing 11 syllables and consisting of a trochee, a spondee or trochee, a dactyl, a trochee, and a spondee or trochee.
b. Relating to or being a stanza of three such verses followed by a verse consisting of a dactyl followed by a spondee or trochee.
c. Relating to or being an ode made up of such stanzas.
d. Of, relating to, or being a verse, stanza, or poem in accentual-syllabic meter composed in imitation of Sapphic quantitative verse.
n.
A Sapphic meter, verse, stanza, or ode.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
sap·phic (săfĭk)
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adj.
Of or relating to lesbianism.

[After SAPPHO, known for her homoerotic poetry.]

sapphism (săfĭzəm) adj.
sapphist n. & adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.