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4696 entries found
cyanotic (adj.)

"pertaining to or resembling cyanosis," 1833, from combining form of root of cyanosis + -ic.

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cyanotype (n.)

"photograph picture obtained by the use of cyanide," 1842, from cyan- + ending from daguerreotype (see type (n.)).

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Cybele 

Anatolian goddess, Latinized form of Greek Kybelē, an earth-goddess identified by the Greek with their Rhea, daughter of Uranus and Ge, wife of Cronus and mother of Zeus. The name is of unknown origin. Beekes writes, "In Old Phrygian, she is called Matar Kubileya or Kubeleya. The exact meaning of the adjective is unknown; does it refer to a mountain? The goddess originated in Karkhemish, around 1200, where she was called Kubaba. ... Her Lydian name was Kuvava. From Locri Epizephyrii we have her name as Qubalas."

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cyber- 

word-forming element, ultimately from cybernetics (q.v.). It enjoyed explosive use with the rise of the internet early 1990s. One researcher (Nagel) counted 104 words formed from it by 1994. Cyberpunk (by 1986) and cyberspace (1982) were among the earliest. The OED 2nd edition (1989) has only cybernetics and its related forms, and cybernation "theory, practice, or condition of control by machines" (1962). 

Cyber is such a perfect prefix. Because nobody has any idea what it means, it can be grafted onto any old word to make it seem new, cool — and therefore strange, spooky. [New York magazine, Dec. 23, 1996]

As a stand-alone noun, cyber, it is attested by 1998 as short for cybersex (which is attested by 1995).

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cybercafe (n.)

"cafe that offers Internet access on its computers," or (later) via Wi-Fi on customers' computers," 1994, from cyber- + cafe.

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cybernetic (adj.)
1951, back-formation from cybernetics. Greek kybernetikos meant "good at steering."
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cybernetics (n.)

"theory or study of communication and control," coined 1948 by U.S. mathematician Norbert Wiener (1894-1964), with -ics + Latinized form of Greek kybernetes "steersman" (metaphorically "guide, governor"), from kybernan "to steer or pilot a ship, direct as a pilot," figuratively "to guide, govern," which is of uncertain origin. Beekes agrees that "the word has no cognates" and concludes "Foreign origin is probable." The construction is perhaps based on 1830s French cybernétique "the art of governing."

The future offers very little hope for those who expect that our new mechanical slaves will offer us a world in which we may rest from thinking. Help us they may, but at the cost of supreme demands upon our honesty and our intelligence. [Norbert Wiener, "God and Golem, Inc.," 1964]
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cyberspace (n.)

"the online world of computer networks and especially the Internet, the environment in which communication over computer networks occurs," 1982, often written as two words at first, coined by science fiction writer William Gibson (best known for "Neuromancer") and used by him in a short story published in 1982, from cyber- + space (n.).

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cyborg (n.)

"a man-machine hybrid, a human modified by integrated machinery to have extended powers," 1960, a blend of the first elements of cybernetic and organism.

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cycad (n.)

one of an order of gymnospermous plants, 1845, from Cycadaceae, the family name, Modern Latin, from Greek kykas, a word found in Theophrastus but now thought to be a scribal error for koikas "palm trees," accusative plural of koix, which probably is from an unknown non-Greek language. Related: Cycadaceous.

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