"pendragon" meaning in All languages combined

See pendragon on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /pɛnˈdɹæɡ(ə)n/ [Received-Pronunciation], /pɛnˈdɹæɡ(ə)n/ [General-American], /ˈpɛnˌdɹæɡ(ə)n/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pendragon.wav [Southern-England] Forms: pendragons [plural]
Etymology: From Middle English Pendragon, borrowed from Welsh pendragon (“chief war leader”), from pen (“head; chief; principal, supreme”) (ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kʷennom (“head”)) + dragon (“dragon; commander, war leader”) (from Latin dracō (“serpent, snake; dragon”), from Ancient Greek δρᾰ́κων (drákōn, “serpent; dragon”), possibly from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)”), from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see”)). Compare Late Latin īnsulāris dracō (literally “dragon of the island”), used by the monk Saint Gildas (c. 500 – c. 570 AD) in De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain) as an epithet of Maelgwn Gwynedd (died c. 547), the king of Gwynedd. Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*derḱ-}}, {{inh|en|enm|Pendragon}} Middle English Pendragon, {{der|en|cy|pendragon|t=chief war leader}} Welsh pendragon (“chief war leader”), {{m|cy|pen|t=head; chief; principal, supreme}} pen (“head; chief; principal, supreme”), {{der|en|cel-pro|*kʷennom|t=head}} Proto-Celtic *kʷennom (“head”), {{m|cy|dragon|t=dragon; commander, war leader}} dragon (“dragon; commander, war leader”), {{der|en|la|dracō|t=serpent, snake; dragon}} Latin dracō (“serpent, snake; dragon”), {{der|en|grc|δρᾰ́κων|t=serpent; dragon}} Ancient Greek δρᾰ́κων (drákōn, “serpent; dragon”), {{sup|1}} ¹, {{m|grc|δέρκομαι|t=to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)}} δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)”), {{der|en|ine-pro|*derḱ-|t=to see}} Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see”), {{noncog|LL.|īnsulāris dracō|lit=dragon of the island}} Late Latin īnsulāris dracō (literally “dragon of the island”), {{circa2|500|short=yes}} c. 500 Head templates: {{en-noun}} pendragon (plural pendragons)
  1. Also capitalized as Pendragon: a title assumed by the ancient British chiefs when called to lead other chiefs: chief war leader, chieftain, dictator, despot or king. Wikipedia link: De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, Gildas, Maelgwn Gwynedd, University of Wales Press Synonyms: Pendragon Derived forms: pendragonship Translations (chief war leader, dictator, or king): ülempealik (Estonian), 펜드래건 (pendeuraegeon) (Korean), xunkar (Northern Kurdish), pendragon (Portuguese)
    Sense id: en-pendragon-en-noun-CM3K2b89 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for pendragon meaning in All languages combined (7.8kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*derḱ-"
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        "2": "cy",
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      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
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      },
      "expansion": "pen (“head; chief; principal, supreme”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
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      "name": "der"
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    {
      "args": {
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      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "dracō",
        "t": "serpent, snake; dragon"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin dracō (“serpent, snake; dragon”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "grc",
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      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek δρᾰ́κων (drákōn, “serpent; dragon”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
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      "args": {
        "1": "1"
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      "expansion": "¹",
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    },
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      "args": {
        "1": "grc",
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        "t": "to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)"
      },
      "expansion": "δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)”)",
      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "LL.",
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        "lit": "dragon of the island"
      },
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      "name": "noncog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "500",
        "short": "yes"
      },
      "expansion": "c. 500",
      "name": "circa2"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English Pendragon, borrowed from Welsh pendragon (“chief war leader”), from pen (“head; chief; principal, supreme”) (ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kʷennom (“head”)) + dragon (“dragon; commander, war leader”) (from Latin dracō (“serpent, snake; dragon”), from Ancient Greek δρᾰ́κων (drákōn, “serpent; dragon”), possibly from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)”), from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see”)). Compare Late Latin īnsulāris dracō (literally “dragon of the island”), used by the monk Saint Gildas (c. 500 – c. 570 AD) in De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain) as an epithet of Maelgwn Gwynedd (died c. 547), the king of Gwynedd.",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "pendragons",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "pendragon (plural pendragons)",
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "pendragonship"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1810, J[ohn] Stagg, “Arthur’s Cave. A Legendary Tale.”, in The Minstrel of the North: Or, Cumbrian Legends. […], London: Printed by Hamblin and Seyfang, […], for the author, and sold by J. Blacklock, […], →OCLC, page 105",
          "text": "[I]n the reign of Henry the Second, a body happening, by chance, to be dug up near Glastonbury Abbey, without any symptoms of putrefaction or decay, the Welch, the descendants of the Ancient Britons, tenacious of the dignity and reputation of that illustrious hero [King Arthur], vainly supposed it could be no other than the body of their justly-boasted Pen-Dragon; and that he had been immured in that sepulchre by the spells of some powerful and implacable inchanter.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1853, Beale Poste, “Book I. Britain Tripartite.”, in Britannic Researches. Or New Facts and Rectifications of Ancient British History, London: John Russell Smith, […], →OCLC, page 43",
          "text": "The regal dominion, then, held by the sovereigns of Britain in these ages seems most properly described as an elective monarchy made hereditary; or, to take the converse of the proposition, as a hereditary monarchy requiring to be confirmed at the succession of each monarch by a popular election. […] There was this essential difference, as now in the case of the kings paramount, or pendragons^* of Britain, traces of succession by descent are noticeable. […] Thus we find in [Julius] Cæsar’s Commentaries, Gaulish Wars, vii, 4, that Celtillus, a pendragon or leader general of the Gauls, lost his life because he had endeavoured to change his delegated power into an “imperium,” that is, to make it more permanent and settled. [Footnote: ^* It is common to call the sovereigns of Britain, like Cassibelan, Uther, Arthur, and others, ‘pendragons,’ because Uther Pendragon, one that was famous among them, was so called.[…]]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Antony John Lewery, Popular Art: Past & Present, Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles, page 44, column 1",
          "text": "The red dragon had already been in intermittent use for centuries as a device for a general, a pen-dragon, a 'head-leader' in Celtic, and it was strongly associated with the name of Cadwallader, the last Celt to rule Britain.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Adam Ardrey, “Uther Pendragon, Son of the Sky God”, in Finding Merlin: The Truth behind the Legend, Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing",
          "text": "To recap, with a view to understanding the 'Uther' in 'Utherpendragon', Emrys, the first Pen Dragon, fought the Angles in the 550s. Gwenddolau, the second Pen Dragon, fought the Angles in the 560s and early 570s. Maelgwn became Pen Dragon after Arderydd in 573, although by then there was no organised force for him to take over. As there were only two Pen Dragons of moment, it would have been natural for people living hundreds of years later to refer to Emrys as Pen Dragon and Gwenddolau as the other Pen Dragon.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Also capitalized as Pendragon: a title assumed by the ancient British chiefs when called to lead other chiefs: chief war leader, chieftain, dictator, despot or king."
      ],
      "id": "en-pendragon-en-noun-CM3K2b89",
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          "assume#English"
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          "British#English"
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        [
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        {
          "code": "et",
          "lang": "Estonian",
          "sense": "chief war leader, dictator, or king",
          "word": "ülempealik"
        },
        {
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "roman": "pendeuraegeon",
          "sense": "chief war leader, dictator, or king",
          "word": "펜드래건"
        },
        {
          "code": "kmr",
          "lang": "Northern Kurdish",
          "sense": "chief war leader, dictator, or king",
          "word": "xunkar"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "chief war leader, dictator, or king",
          "word": "pendragon"
        }
      ],
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        "De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae",
        "Gildas",
        "Maelgwn Gwynedd",
        "University of Wales Press"
      ]
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      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
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      "ipa": "/pɛnˈdɹæɡ(ə)n/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
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      "ipa": "/ˈpɛnˌdɹæɡ(ə)n/",
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        "General-American"
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-pendragon.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-pendragon.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
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      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pendragon"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "pendragonship"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
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      "args": {
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        "2": "cy",
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        "1": "cy",
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      "expansion": "pen (“head; chief; principal, supreme”)",
      "name": "m"
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      "name": "der"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cy",
        "2": "dragon",
        "t": "dragon; commander, war leader"
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      "name": "m"
    },
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "dracō",
        "t": "serpent, snake; dragon"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin dracō (“serpent, snake; dragon”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "δρᾰ́κων",
        "t": "serpent; dragon"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek δρᾰ́κων (drákōn, “serpent; dragon”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "grc",
        "2": "δέρκομαι",
        "t": "to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)"
      },
      "expansion": "δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*derḱ-",
        "t": "to see"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "LL.",
        "2": "īnsulāris dracō",
        "lit": "dragon of the island"
      },
      "expansion": "Late Latin īnsulāris dracō (literally “dragon of the island”)",
      "name": "noncog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "500",
        "short": "yes"
      },
      "expansion": "c. 500",
      "name": "circa2"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English Pendragon, borrowed from Welsh pendragon (“chief war leader”), from pen (“head; chief; principal, supreme”) (ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kʷennom (“head”)) + dragon (“dragon; commander, war leader”) (from Latin dracō (“serpent, snake; dragon”), from Ancient Greek δρᾰ́κων (drákōn, “serpent; dragon”), possibly from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)”), from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see”)). Compare Late Latin īnsulāris dracō (literally “dragon of the island”), used by the monk Saint Gildas (c. 500 – c. 570 AD) in De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain) as an epithet of Maelgwn Gwynedd (died c. 547), the king of Gwynedd.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pendragons",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "pendragon (plural pendragons)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "pen‧drag‧on"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English 3-syllable words",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
        "English terms derived from Latin",
        "English terms derived from Middle English",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Celtic",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
        "English terms derived from Welsh",
        "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *derḱ-",
        "English terms inherited from Middle English",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1810, J[ohn] Stagg, “Arthur’s Cave. A Legendary Tale.”, in The Minstrel of the North: Or, Cumbrian Legends. […], London: Printed by Hamblin and Seyfang, […], for the author, and sold by J. Blacklock, […], →OCLC, page 105",
          "text": "[I]n the reign of Henry the Second, a body happening, by chance, to be dug up near Glastonbury Abbey, without any symptoms of putrefaction or decay, the Welch, the descendants of the Ancient Britons, tenacious of the dignity and reputation of that illustrious hero [King Arthur], vainly supposed it could be no other than the body of their justly-boasted Pen-Dragon; and that he had been immured in that sepulchre by the spells of some powerful and implacable inchanter.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1853, Beale Poste, “Book I. Britain Tripartite.”, in Britannic Researches. Or New Facts and Rectifications of Ancient British History, London: John Russell Smith, […], →OCLC, page 43",
          "text": "The regal dominion, then, held by the sovereigns of Britain in these ages seems most properly described as an elective monarchy made hereditary; or, to take the converse of the proposition, as a hereditary monarchy requiring to be confirmed at the succession of each monarch by a popular election. […] There was this essential difference, as now in the case of the kings paramount, or pendragons^* of Britain, traces of succession by descent are noticeable. […] Thus we find in [Julius] Cæsar’s Commentaries, Gaulish Wars, vii, 4, that Celtillus, a pendragon or leader general of the Gauls, lost his life because he had endeavoured to change his delegated power into an “imperium,” that is, to make it more permanent and settled. [Footnote: ^* It is common to call the sovereigns of Britain, like Cassibelan, Uther, Arthur, and others, ‘pendragons,’ because Uther Pendragon, one that was famous among them, was so called.[…]]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Antony John Lewery, Popular Art: Past & Present, Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles, page 44, column 1",
          "text": "The red dragon had already been in intermittent use for centuries as a device for a general, a pen-dragon, a 'head-leader' in Celtic, and it was strongly associated with the name of Cadwallader, the last Celt to rule Britain.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Adam Ardrey, “Uther Pendragon, Son of the Sky God”, in Finding Merlin: The Truth behind the Legend, Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing",
          "text": "To recap, with a view to understanding the 'Uther' in 'Utherpendragon', Emrys, the first Pen Dragon, fought the Angles in the 550s. Gwenddolau, the second Pen Dragon, fought the Angles in the 560s and early 570s. Maelgwn became Pen Dragon after Arderydd in 573, although by then there was no organised force for him to take over. As there were only two Pen Dragons of moment, it would have been natural for people living hundreds of years later to refer to Emrys as Pen Dragon and Gwenddolau as the other Pen Dragon.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Also capitalized as Pendragon: a title assumed by the ancient British chiefs when called to lead other chiefs: chief war leader, chieftain, dictator, despot or king."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "Pendragon",
          "Pendragon#English"
        ],
        [
          "title",
          "title#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "assume",
          "assume#English"
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        [
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          "ancient#English"
        ],
        [
          "British",
          "British#English"
        ],
        [
          "chief",
          "chief#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "war",
          "war#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "leader",
          "leader"
        ],
        [
          "chieftain",
          "chieftain"
        ],
        [
          "dictator",
          "dictator"
        ],
        [
          "despot",
          "despot"
        ],
        [
          "king",
          "king#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae",
        "Gildas",
        "Maelgwn Gwynedd",
        "University of Wales Press"
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  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/pɛnˈdɹæɡ(ə)n/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/pɛnˈdɹæɡ(ə)n/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpɛnˌdɹæɡ(ə)n/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
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    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pendragon.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-pendragon.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-pendragon.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-pendragon.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-pendragon.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "Pendragon"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "et",
      "lang": "Estonian",
      "sense": "chief war leader, dictator, or king",
      "word": "ülempealik"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "roman": "pendeuraegeon",
      "sense": "chief war leader, dictator, or king",
      "word": "펜드래건"
    },
    {
      "code": "kmr",
      "lang": "Northern Kurdish",
      "sense": "chief war leader, dictator, or king",
      "word": "xunkar"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "chief war leader, dictator, or king",
      "word": "pendragon"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pendragon"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (4d5d0bb and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.