Pygmalion
//pɪɡˈmeɪliən// name, noun
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 One who acts as the legendary Greek sculptor Pygmalion (who was granted the wish of having life given to a sculpture of his which he fell deeply in love with), as in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion in which he sometimes refers to his main character (Henry Higgins) as Pygmalion Higgins.
- 2 Alternative form of pygmalion (“one who acts in a way reminiscent of the sculptor”). alt-of, alternative
Proper Noun
- 1 A legendary sculptor who was granted the wish of having life given to a sculpture of his which he fell deeply in love with. Greek
Example
More examples"Pygmalion fell in love with the statue he had carved."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Pygmalion, from Ancient Greek Πυγμαλίων (Pugmalíōn), from Phoenician 𐤐𐤏𐤌𐤉𐤕𐤍 (pʿmytn /puġ‘mayaton/), from Phoenician 𐤐𐤌𐤉𐤉𐤕𐤍 (pmyytn /pumayyaton/, “Pumay has given”), from Phoenician 𐤐𐤌𐤉 (pmy, “Pumay”) + Phoenician 𐤉𐤕𐤍 (ytn /yaton/, “to give”).
Etymology 2
From Ancient Greek Πυγμαλίων (Pugmalíōn), from Phoenician 𐤐𐤏𐤌𐤉𐤕𐤍 (pʿmytn /puġ‘mayaton/), from Phoenician 𐤐𐤌𐤉𐤉𐤕𐤍 (pmyytn /pumayyaton/, “Pumay has given”), from Phoenician 𐤐𐤌𐤉 (pmy, “Pumay”) + Phoenician 𐤉𐤕𐤍 (ytn /yaton/, “to give”).
Related phrases
More for "pygmalion"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.