Reunion Weekend: June 2-4, 2023

All alumni are invited to join us back on campus for Reunion Weekend the first weekend in June.

Saint Ignatius High School

Etymology Word of the Week

Director of Admissions Pat O'Rourke '90, a self-proclaimed "word nerd," brings you his Etymology Word of the Week. Every other week he presents an online Etymology lesson just for fun!

Etymology Word of the Week – As some of you know, in addition to working in the Admissions Office, I also teach Latin at Saint Ignatius and am something of a "word nerd."  Thus, each week, I’ll sneak a vocabulary word (sometimes derived from Latin, sometimes not) into the e-blast.  Here, then. is this week’s edition of the Etymology Word of the Week.  

Megalopolis

Definition: “A very large city; an urban complex, usually comprising several large towns.”  

Origin/Derivation: From the Greek megas meaning “great” and polis meaning “city.”      

Related Words/Phrases:  megalodon (prehistoric shark - literally “large tooth”), megalomania (similar to egomania), megalith (huge stone); acropolis (elevated city), cosmopolitan (world citizen), metropolitan, Neapolitan (from Naples - literally “new city”), necropolis (city of the dead), politics, police, Tripoli (3 cities), Constantinople (Constantine’s city), Annapolis, Indianapolis, etc, etc.