Lamia

//ˈleɪ.mi.ə// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A monster preying upon human beings, who sucked the blood of children, often described as having the head and breasts of a woman and the lower half of a serpent. Greek

    "Apollonius […] by some probable conjectures, found her out to be a serpent, a lamia, and that all her furniture was like Tantalus' gold described by Homer, no substance, but mere illusions."

  2. 2
    (folklore) a corpse that rises at night to drink the blood of the living wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A city in Greece.

Example

More examples

"Apollonius […] by some probable conjectures, found her out to be a serpent, a lamia, and that all her furniture was like Tantalus' gold described by Homer, no substance, but mere illusions."

Etymology

From Latin lamia, from Ancient Greek Λάμια (Lámia).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.