hydra

See also: Hydra

English

Wikispecies

Hydra

Etymology

After the Hydra, from Greek mythology, which grew two new heads every time one of its heads was cut off. The first sense alludes to the budding method of asexual reproduction that the hydra practices, similar to growing new heads. The second sense refers to how the creature could not be killed by a swift, decisive solution (in contrast to a Gordian knot).

Pronunciation

• enPR: hī'drə, IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪdɹə/

Noun

hydra (plural hydras or hydrae or hydræ)

1. Any of several small freshwater polyps of the genus Hydra and related genera, having a naked cylindrical body and an oral opening surrounded by tentacles.
2. A complex, multifarious problem or situation that cannot be solved easily and rapidly.
   • 2009, Kris Frieswick, Till Death Do Us Pay:

     Because the statute is so vaguely worded, award decisions are habitually based on case law, the growing mountain of which is a hydra of rulings that point in so many directions that almost any decision can be defended or overturned on appeal, depending on how smart your lawyer is and which precedent he selects to argue your case.

Translations

any of several small freshwater polyps of the genus Hydra and related genera

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水螅 (zh) (shuǐxī)

• Finnish: lampipolyyppi
• French: hydre (fr) f
• Galician: hidra (gl) f
• German: Hydra (de) f
• Japanese: ヒドラ (ja) (hidora)
• Latin: hydra f
• Navajo: gaanłáníchilí dóó gaanłání doo yitʼíinii pl

• Polish: stułbia f
• Portuguese: hidra f
• Romanian: hidră (ro) f
• Russian: ги́дра (ru) f (gídra)
• Spanish: hydra f
• Tagalog: idra
• Telugu: హైడ్రా (haiḍrā)
• Thai: ไฮดรา (th) (haidraa)
• Vietnamese: thuỷ tức

complex, multifarious problem

• Finnish: ongelmavyyhti
• Galician: hidra (gl) f

• Portuguese: bicho de sete cabeças (pt) f

Anagrams

• Hardy, hardy

---

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈhy.dra/, [ˈhʏ.dra]

Noun

hydra f (genitive hydrae); first declension (masculine hydrus)

1. A water-snake.

Inflection

First declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	hydra	hydrae
genitive	hydrae	hydrārum
dative	hydrae	hydrīs
accusative	hydram	hydrās
ablative	hydrā	hydrīs
vocative	hydra	hydrae

Related terms

• Hydra
• hydrus

References

• hydra in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• du Cange, Charles (1883), “hydra”, in G. A. Louis Henschel, Pierre Carpentier, Léopold Favre, editors, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (in Latin), Niort: L. Favre
• hydra in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia^[1]
• hydra in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• hydra in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly