The Sphinx and the Sphincter Both Squeeze
A sphinx is a mythical creature with a lion's body. Its Greek name means the strangler, from the same verb that gives medicine the word sphincter.
A sphinx is a creature with a lion's body and a human head. The Greek name comes from *sphingein*, to squeeze or bind tight — she strangled travellers who failed her riddle — and that same verb gives anatomy the *sphincter*, a muscle that closes by squeezing. The Egyptian and Greek sphinxes are also quite different beasts.
- A mythical lion-bodied figure. *The Great Sphinx at Giza.*
- An inscrutable person. *He remained a sphinx throughout.*
- Sphinxlike — giving nothing away. *A sphinxlike smile.*
- Riddle of the Sphinx — the famous question in the Oedipus story. *He answered the riddle of the Sphinx.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | sphinx | A carved sphinx. |
| Plural | sphinxes | Rows of sphinxes. |
| Greek plural | sphinges | Used in scholarship. |
| Adjective | sphinxlike | A sphinxlike reply. |
| Cognate | sphincter | The pyloric sphincter. |
- The Great Sphinx faces due east.Egypt.
- She met the question with a sphinxlike silence.Figurative.
- What walks on four legs in the morning?The opening of the riddle.
Egyptian sphinx or Greek sphinx?
- Egyptian — usually male, wingless, a guardian figure
- Greek — female, winged, and dangerous
- The riddle — a Greek addition, not Egyptian
- Giza — carved from a single limestone outcrop, probably in the Old Kingdom
- The name — Greek visitors applied their own word to the Egyptian statues
Greek *Sphinx*, apparently from *sphingein*, to bind tight or strangle. The word came into English through Latin in the 1500s.
What is the riddle of the Sphinx?
What goes on four legs in the morning, two at midday and three in the evening? The answer is a human being: crawling, walking, then using a stick.
Are sphinx and sphincter related?
Yes, through the Greek verb sphingein, to squeeze. The sphinx strangled; a sphincter closes by contracting.