tragico-, tragi-, trago-, trag-

(Greek: goat)

A gum extract obtained in a dried form from various Asiatic or East European species of plants; any shrub or tree yielding this gum which is used in the arts and as an emulsifying agent and pill excipient in pharmacy.
Relating to the tragus (the prominence in front of the external opening of the ear).
1. A writer (especially a playwright) who writes tragedies.
2. An actor who specializes in tragic roles.
tragedienne (s) (noun), tragediennes (pl)
1. An actress of misfortune or who performs in tragic dramas: Sherry was the tragedienne in theater production of Shakespeare's play "Othello, the Moor of Venice" and acted the role of Desdemona, Othello's wife, absolutely marvelously.

Little Susan was a tragedienne with her mother when she wanted to have the dress which she saw in the store when they were shopping because she thought that she just couldn't live without it!
2. Etymology: from Greek tragodia, "a dramatic poem or play in formal language and having an unhappy resolution;" from French tragedienne; from tragedie; "tragedy" or "a disastrous event".

An actress who plays disastrous situations.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

tragedy (s) (noun), tragedies (pl)
1. A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances; the genre made up of such works and the art or theory of writing or producing these works.
2. A play, film, television program, or other narrative work that portrays or depicts calamitous events and has an unhappy but meaningful ending.
3. A disastrous event, especially one involving distressing loss or injury to life: "It was an expedition that ended in tragedy, with all hands lost at sea."
4. A tragic aspect or element; such as, a lamentable, dreadful, or fatal event or affair; a calamity; a disaster: "We are experiencing the tragedies of war every time the news tells of more deaths."
5. Etymology: from Old French tragedie (14th century); from Latin tragedia, "a tragedy"; from Greek tragodia, "a dramatic poem or play in formal language and having an unhappy resolution"; apparently literally, "goat song", from tragos, "goat" + oide, "song".

Etymology of tragedy. More etymological information about tragedy.

tragelaph, tragelaphus
A fabulous animal, partly a goat and partly a stag; from Greek mythology.
1 Very sad, often involving death and suffering: "Her friends were deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic news of her death."
2. Belonging or relating to literature about death or suffering.
3. Extremely mournful, melancholy, or pathetic.
4. Dreadful, calamitous, disastrous, or fatal.
5. of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of tragedy: the tragic drama.
6. The element or quality of tragedy in literature, art, drama, etc.
tragical, tragically
1. Very sad; especially involving grief or death or destruction.
2. Characteristic or suggestive of tragedy.
3. Being extremely mournful, melancholy, or pathetic.
1. A dramatic composition involving elements of both tragedy and comedy usually with the tragic predominating.
2. A comedy with serious elements or overtones.
3. An incident, or series of incidents, of mixed tragic and comic character.
1. Having pathetic as well as ludicrous characteristics.
2. Manifesting both tragic and comic aspects.
3. Relating to or characteristic of tragicomedy or a drama in which tragic and comic scenes are intermingled.
1. A point in the depth of the notch just above the tragus of the ear (a small cartilaginous flap in front of the external opening of the ear).
2. An anthropometric point situated in the notch just above the tragus of the ear.
1. A strong offensive odor via perspiration of the armpits.
2. Bromidrosis or the fetid or foul smelling of perspiration of the axillae (armpits).
3. Etymology: from Greek tragomaschalos, "with smelling armpits", from tragos, "goat" + maschale, the "axilla" (the hollow place under the arm where it is joined to the shoulder).
tragophonia, tragophony
A peculiar broken quality of the voice sounds; such as, the bleating of a goat, heard about the upper level of the fluid in cases of pleurisy with effusion; egophony.
A deformity in which the knees are abnormally close together and the space between the ankles is increased more than normally; also known as "knock knee".
tragus (s), tragi (pl)
1. The hairs growing at the entrance to the external acoustic meatus.
2. Hair inside the ear passage or a hair growing just inside the opening of the ear passage.
3. The pointed flap of cartilage that lies above the earlobe and partly covers the entrance to the ear passage.
4. Etymology: from Late Latin which came from Greek tragos, "the hairy part of the ear; a he-goat"; so called because of the hairs on it.

Related goat-word units: aego-; capri-; hirco-.