A.Word.A.Day --theomachy

A.Word.A.Day

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Sep 1, 2025

This week’s theme
Words made with combining forms

This week’s words
theomachy
kleptocrat
thanatophobia
euryphagous
uranomania

The Fall of the Titans (1588-1590)

Art: Cornelis van Haarlem

Previous week’s theme
Toponyms

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Ever been at a loss for words?

There are many ways to make a badly needed one, for example:

If it’s about sound, imitate it (that’s how we got gnar).
Coin it after a person or place (Ponzi scheme, Canossa).
Borrow from another language (sachem from Algonquian).
Repurpose an old word and give it new life (ludicrous).

But why go to all that trouble when you can assemble it from parts that are already lying around? Take linguistic Lego bricks known as combining forms and snap them together. Think of photo- (light) + -graphy (writing) = photography. In the right combinations, combining forms can build whole universes.

This week we’ll mix and match words made from these combining forms:

theo- (god)		-machy (battle)
thanato- (death)		-crat (ruler)
eury- (wide)	+	-phobia (fear)
klepto- (theft)		-mania (obsession)
urano- (heavens)		-phagous (feeding on)

What new words can you cook up with these? Share your creations below or email us at words@wordsmith.org. Don’t forget your location (city, state).

theomachy

PRONUNCIATION:

(thee-OM-uh-kee)

MEANING:

noun: A battle among the gods or other powerful entities.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek theo- (god) + -machy (battle). Earliest documented use: 1576.

NOTES:

Even gods are not immune to a little family drama. Titans, giant gods in Greek mythology, overthrew their father Uranus to seize power. Eventually, the Titan Cronus’s children (Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera, and Demeter) overthrew the Titans. These days, theomachy is more likely to erupt in boardrooms or in a capital’s halls of power than on Mount Olympus.

USAGE:

“Theomachy and reckless martyrdom ensued. Terrific battles erupted in the halls on K Street. Fistfights, catfights, memo-bludgeon duels took place between dedicated OWC careerists and White House staff.”
Michael B. Neff; All the Dark We Will Not See; Serving House Books; 2016.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character. This is how ideologues justify punishing the sick and the poor. But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live. -Sarah Kendzior, journalist and author (b. 1 Sep 1978)

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