myriad

English

WOTD – 5 September 2009    

Wikipedia

Etymology

From French myriade, from Late Latin myriadis (genitive of myrias), from Ancient Greek μυριάδος (myriados), genitive of μυριάς (myrias, “number of 10,000”), from μύριος (myrios, “numberless, countless, infinite”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈmɪɹiad/, /ˈmɪɹɪəd/
• (US) IPA: /ˈmɪ.ɹi.æd/, /ˈmɪ.ɹi.əd/; X-SAMPA: /"mI.ri.{d/, /"mI.ri.@d/

Noun

myriad (plural myriads)

1. (now historical) Ten thousand; 10,000. [from 16th c.]
2. A countless number or multitude (of specified things). [from 16th c.]

   Earth hosts a myriad of animals.

Usage notes

Used as an adjective (see below), 'myriad' requires neither an article before it nor a preposition after. Because of this, some consider the usage described in sense 2 above, where 'myriad' acts as part of a nominal (or noun) group (that is, "a myriad of animals"), to be tautological.

Translations

ten thousand

• Aramaic:

  Syriac: ܪܒܘܬܐ f (rebōthā, rebōtho)

  Hebrew: רבותא f (rebōthā, rebōtho)

• Armenian: բյուր (hy) (byur)
• Catalan: miríada (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 万 (cmn) (wàn), 萬 (cmn) (wàn)

  Cantonese: 萬 (maan6), 万 (maan6)

• Dutch: myriade (nl) f
• French: myriade (fr) f

• German: Myriade (de) f
• Japanese: 万 (ja) (まん, man)
• Korean: 만 (ko) (man, 万, 萬)
• Polish: miriada (pl) f
• Portuguese: miríade (pt) f
• Spanish: miríada (es) f
• Swedish: myriad (sv) c
• Turkish: on bin (tr)
• Vietnamese: vạn (vi)
• Welsh: deng mil (cy)

vast diversity or number

• Aramaic:

  Syriac: ܪܒܘܬܐ f (rebōthā, rebōtho)

  Hebrew: רבותא f (rebōthā, rebōtho)

• Armenian: բյուր (hy) (byur)
• Catalan: miríada (ca) f
• Czech: myriáda (cs) f
• Danish: myriade (da) c
• Dutch: een groot aantal (nl), myriade (nl) f
• Finnish: suunnaton (fi) määrä (fi), myriadi (fi), lukematon määrä (fi)

• French: myriade (fr) f
• German: Unmenge (de) f, Myriaden (de) f pl, Unzahl (de) f, Vielzahl (de) f
• Icelandic: mýgrútur (is) m, urmull (is) f, ótal (is) n, ógrynni (is) n, aragrúi (is) m
• Polish: mnóstwo (pl), masa (pl)
• Portuguese: miríade (pt) f
• Serbo-Croatian: mirijada (sh) f
• Spanish: miríada (es) f
• Swedish: myriad (sv) c, otal (sv) n, otalig mängd (sv) c
• Turkish: çok büyük sayı (tr), pek çok (tr), (colloquial) bir sürü (tr), sayısız (tr)

Adjective

myriad (not comparable)

1. (modifying a singular noun) Multifaceted, having innumerable elements. [from 18th c.]
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, p. 131:

     one night he would be singing at the barred window and yelling down out of the soft myriad darkness of a May night; the next night he would be gone [...].

   • 2011 April 6–19, Kara Krekeler, "Researchers at Washington U. have 'itch' to cure problem", West End Word, volume 40, number 7, page 8:

     "As a clinician, it's a difficult symptom to treat," Cornelius said. "The end symptom may be the same, but what's causing it may be myriad."

2. (modifying a plural noun) Great in number; innumerable, multitudinous. [from 18th c.]

   Earth hosts myriad animals.

Translations

great in number

• Armenian: բյուրավոր (hy) (byuravor), անթիվ (hy) (ant’iv), անհամար (hy) (anhamar), անհաշիվ (hy) (anhašiv), բյուր (hy) (byur)
• Estonian: loendamatu (et)
• Finnish: lukematon (fi)
• Georgian: მირიადი (ka) (miriadi)
• German: unzählig (de)

• Hebrew: רבבה (r"vavah) f
• Latin: permulti (la) m pl
• Polish: niezliczony (pl)
• Russian: мириады (ru) (miriady)
• Swedish: otalig (sv)

See also

• plethora

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Swedish

Noun

myriad c

1. a myriad

Declension

Declension of myriad

	singular		plural
Common	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	myriad	myriaden	myriader	myriaderna
genitive	myriads	myriadens	myriaders	myriadernas

References

• myriad in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)