Philoctetes

noun

Phi·​loc·​te·​tes fi-ˈläk-tə-ˌtēz 

ˌfi-läk-ˈtē-tēz

: a Greek archer who uses the bow of Hercules to slay Paris at Troy

Examples of Philoctetes in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Then the Trojan War dragged on for a decade, and a seer told Odysseus that the Greeks couldn’t win without Philoctetes. —Elif Batuman, The New Yorker, 1 Sep. 2020

Word History

Etymology

Greek Philoktētēs

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above