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hecatomb.

A great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; also, a great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈhɛkətuːm/Received-Pronunciation/-tɒm/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɛkətoʊm/General-American
  1. A great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; also, a great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice.

    Ancient-Rome · historical
  2. A great public sacrifice in other religions; also, a great number of animals or people reserved for such a sacrifice.

    broadly · historical
  3. A great number of animals, people, or things that are sacrificed or destroyed; any great sacrifice; also (generally), a large amount.

    figuratively · literary · poetic
Where this word comes from

The noun is a learned borrowing from Latin hecatombē (“great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb”), from Ancient Greek ἑκατόμβη (hekatómbē, “great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb; any animal sacrifice or large sacrifice”, from ἑκᾰτόν (hekătón, “hundred”) + βοῦς (boûs, “cattle, cow, ox”)). The verb is derived from the noun.

verb/ˈhɛkətuːm/Received-Pronunciation/-tɒm/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɛkətoʊm/General-American
  1. To provide (someone or something) with a hecatomb.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

The noun is a learned borrowing from Latin hecatombē (“great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb”), from Ancient Greek ἑκατόμβη (hekatómbē, “great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb; any animal sacrifice or large sacrifice”, from ἑκᾰτόν (hekătón, “hundred”) + βοῦς (boûs, “cattle, cow, ox”)). The verb is derived from the noun.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.