acephalous

adjective

aceph·​a·​lous (ˌ)ā-ˈse-fə-ləs 

ə-ˈse-

1

: lacking a head or having the head reduced

2

: lacking a governing head or chief

Did you know?

The English word acephalous was borrowed from Medieval Latin, in which it meant "headless" and was chiefly used to describe clerics not under a bishop or lines of verse having the first foot missing or abbreviated. The fountainhead of these meanings is the Greek word kephalē, meaning "head." Other English descendants of kephalē include cephalic, meaning "of or relating to the head" or "directed toward or situated on or in or near the head," and encephalitis, meaning "inflammation of the brain."

Examples of acephalous in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Based in Southeast Nigeria, this industrious and acephalous group has attracted a lot of attention from research in recent years. —Nnamdi Madichie, Quartz, 29 Apr. 2021

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Medieval Latin acephalus "headless" (originally alluding to clerics not under a bishop), going back to Latin, "lacking the first syllable, in metrics," borrowed from Greek aképhalos, from a- a- entry 2 + -kephalos, adjective derivative of kephalḗ "head" — more at cephalic

First Known Use

1715, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Medical Definition

acephalous

adjective

aceph·​a·​lous (ˈ)ā-ˈsef-ə-ləs  ə-ˈsef- 

: lacking a head or having the head reduced