Eponyms in the Spelling Bee Lexicon
LexiConnexxions has identified 66 eponyms – words derived from the names of people and things, including names those from literature and business – in the A-L portion of Spelling Bee lexicon, which comprises 63% of the entire lexicon. The entire list to date is shown below.
Important Information about this Resource
As of 2024-08-07, analysis has been completed in the A-L portion of the Spelling Bee lexicon, which comprises 63% of the entire lexicon; as the analysis continues, the reports will be updated, and more topics will be added. Each of these reports is a work in progress and is subject to change; as the analysis continues, adjustments may be required across the entire taxonomy to accommodate new taxonomical terms, additional concepts, etc.
Words marked with an asterisk have been used in at least one Bee puzzle, then subsequently disallowed; they are retained here for historical interest.
M-W refers to Merriam-Webster (abridged); NOAD refers to the New Oxford American Dictionary. Please review the important note HERE about the use of dictionaries by the Spelling Bee editor.
As of 2024-08-07, analysis has been completed in the A-L portion of the Spelling Bee lexicon, which comprises 63% of the entire lexicon; as the analysis continues, the reports will be updated, and more topics will be added. Each of these reports is a work in progress and is subject to change; as the analysis continues, adjustments may be required across the entire taxonomy to accommodate new taxonomical terms, additional concepts, etc.
Words marked with an asterisk have been used in at least one Bee puzzle, then subsequently disallowed; they are retained here for historical interest.
M-W refers to Merriam-Webster (abridged); NOAD refers to the New Oxford American Dictionary. Please review the important note HERE about the use of dictionaries by the Spelling Bee editor.
EPONYMS in the Spelling Bee Lexicon
BEE WORD: Definition from Merriam-Webster
AMMONIA: borrowed from New Latin, derivative based on Latin sal ammōniacus "rock salt," literally, "salt of Ammon," from ammōniacus "of Ammon," borrowed from Greek ammōniakós, derivative of Ámmōn, an Egyptian deity …
AUTOMAT: M-W capitalizes (NOAD does not) and says “service mark.” Used for a cafeteria in which food is obtained especially from vending machines
AXEL: often capitalized: a jump in figure skating named for Axel Paulsen, Norwegian figure skater
BACCHANAL: drunken revelry or excessive indulgence; also, a devotee of Bacchus; also, of, relating to, or suggestive of the Bacchanalia; named for Bacchus, the Greek god of wine
BACCHANALIA: drunken revelry or excessive indulgence; also, a devotee of Bacchus; also, of, relating to, or suggestive of the Bacchanalia; named for Bacchus, the Greek god of wine
BACCHANALIAN: related to, or suggestive of, drunken revelry or excessive indulgence; also, a devotee of Bacchus; also, of, relating to, or suggestive of the Bacchanalia; named for Bacchus, the Greek god of wine
BACCHIC: of, relating to, or suggestive of Bacchus or the Bacchanalia: bacchanalian; named for Bacchus, the Greek god of wine
BAUD: a variable unit of data transmission speed (such as one bit per second); from baud (telegraphic transmission speed unit), from J. M. E. Baudot †1903 French inventor
BIDDY*: a hired girl or cleaning woman; or usually disparaging: woman, especially: an elderly woman; diminutive of the name Bridget [probably an Irish servant]
BLIMP: a pompous person with out-of-date or ultraconservative views, from Colonel Blimp, a cartoon character created by David Low
BOYCOTT: Charles C. Boycott †1897 English land agent in Ireland who was ostracized for refusing to reduce rents
BOYCOTTED: Charles C. Boycott †1897 English land agent in Ireland who was ostracized for refusing to reduce rents
BRAINIAC: probably from Brainiac, superintelligent villain in the Superman comic-book series BRUIN: a bear, Middle Dutch, name of the bear in Reynard the Fox
BUBBA: M-W’s only definition capitalizes (NOAD does not) and labels "informal, often disparaging; from Bubba, a stereotypical nickname of Southern white males. NOAD’s 1st def.: “Used as an affectionate form of address to a brother” (2d is the disparaging term)
CAMELLIA: any of a genus (Camellia) of shrubs or trees of the tea family, esp. an ornamental greenhouse shrub (C. japonica) with glossy leaves and roselike flowers from New Latin Camellia, from Camellus (Georg Josef Kamel †1706 Moravian Jesuit missionary)
CANNIBAL: one that eats the flesh of its own kind; from Spanish Caníbal … akin to Carib, a member of an Indian people of northern South America and the Lesser Antilles
CANOLA: Canola was originally a trademark name of the Rapeseed Association of Canada, and the name was a condensation of "Can" from Canada and "OLA" meaning "Oil, low acid" but is now a generic term for edible varieties of rapeseed oil in North America and Australasia.
CAPLET: a capsule-shaped medicinal tablet. NOTE: The name Caplets was formerly a U.S. registered trademark.
CARDIGAN: a usually collarless sweater or jacket that opens the full length of the center front, named for James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan †1868 English soldier; during the Crimean War his Light Brigade was dressed in a close-fitting, knitted jacket.
CARPACCIO: thinly sliced raw meat or fish served with a sauce; named for Vittore Carpaccio; from the prominent use of red in his painting
CLEMENTINE: the citrus fruit, from French clementine, probably from Clément Rodier, French priest who discovered the hybrid circa 1902
COLA: a carbonated soft drink colored usually with caramel and flavored usually with extracts from kola nuts, from Coca-Cola, a trademark
COLON: M-W’s entry is for colón: variants or less commonly colone: the basic monetary unit of El Salvador until 2001; also, the basic monetary unit of Costa Rica; from Spanish colón, from Cristóbal Colón Christopher Columbus
CUPID: a figure that represents Cupid as a naked usually winged boy often holding a bow and arrow; from Cupid, the Roman god of erotic love
CURIUM: a metallic radioactive chemical element that is only produced artificially; New Latin, from Marie & Pierre Curie
DAHLIA: any of a genus (Dahlia) of American tuberous-rooted composite herbs having opposite pinnate leaves and rayed flower heads and including many that are cultivated as ornamentals; genus name, from Anders Dahl †1789 Swedish botanist
DAPHNE: any of a genus (Daphne) of Eurasian shrubs of the mezereon family with apetalous flowers whose colored calyx resembles a corolla. Leaves resemble laurel. Named for Daphne, a nymph in Greek mythology who is transformed into a laurel tree to escape the pursuing Apollo
DECO: often capitalized, often attributive: Art Deco, a popular design style of the 1920s and 1930s … named for French Art Déco, from Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, an exposition … held in Paris, France, in 1925
DOILY: a small napkin or a small often decorative mat, named for Doily or Doyley flourished 1711 a London draper
DOLL: a small-scale figure of a human being used especially as a child's plaything; also, a pretty but often empty-headed young woman; a woman; darling, sweetheart; an attractive person, probably from Doll, nickname for Dorothy
DUNCE: a slow-witted or stupid person; from John Duns Scotus, whose once-accepted writings were ridiculed in the 16th century
FAIRY: a mythical being of folklore and romance usually having diminutive human form and magic powers; Middle English fairie from Anglo-French faerie, from fee fairy, from Latin Fata, goddess of fate, from fatum fate
FARAD: the unit of capacitance equal to the capacitance of a capacitor between whose plates there appears a potential of one volt when it is charged by one coulomb of electricity, named for Michael Faraday
FAUN: a figure in Roman mythology similar to but gentler than the satyr; from Faunus, “the rustic god of the forest, plains and fields”
FAUNA: animal life, especially: the animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment; from Latin Fauna, sister of Faunus
FAUNAE: plural of fauna: animal life, especially: the animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment; from Latin Fauna, sister of Faunus
FAUNAL: related to fauna: animal life, especially: the animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment; from Latin Fauna, sister of Faunus
FLORA: a treatise on or list of the plants of an area or period; or plant, bacterial, or fungal life, especially: such life characteristic of a region, period, or special environment; from Latin Flōra, the goddess of flowers and the flowering season
FLORAL: of or relating to a flora; or of, relating to, or depicting flowers; or a design or picture in which flowers predominate; from Flōra "the goddess Flora"
GAGE: greengage, any of several rather small rounded greenish or greenish-yellow cultivated plums, named for Sir William Gage †1820 English botanist
GANACHE: a sweet creamy chocolate mixture used especially as a filling or frosting, probably named for a bonbon manufactured by the Parisian confectioner Siraudin (probably after Les Ganaches, a play by Victorien Sardou first performed in October, 1862)
GEEZ: less common spelling of jeez; used as a mild oath or introductory expletive (as to express surprise); euphemism for Jesus
GIGAWATT: a unit of power equal to one billion watts (after James Watt †1819)
GILL: a girl, sweetheart [soft g] Middle English, from Gill, nickname for Gillian
GOLLY: used as a mild oath or to express surprise; euphemism for God
GOOGLE: to use the Google search engine, from Google, trademark for a search engine
GOOGLED: to use the Google search engine, from Google, trademark for a search engine
GOOGLING: to use the Google search engine, from Google, trademark for a search engine
GORGON: an ugly or repulsive woman, named for Gorgon (capitalized), any of three snake-haired sisters in Greek mythology whose appearance turns the beholder to stone
GORILLA: a very large typically black-colored anthropoid ape (Gorilla gorilla) of equatorial Africa … or an ugly or brutal man; from Greek Gorillai, plural, a tribe of hairy women mentioned in an account of a voyage around Africa
GRAY: the metre-kilogram-second unit of absorbed dose of ionizing radiation equal to an energy of one joule per kilogram of irradiated material —abbreviation Gy, named for Louis H. Gray †1965 British radiobiologist
GROG: alcoholic liquor, especially: liquor (such as rum) cut with water and now often served hot with lemon juice and sugar sometimes added, named for Old Grog, nickname of Edward Vernon †1757 English admiral responsible for diluting the sailors' rum
GROGGILY: weak and unsteady on the feet or in action, from grog, named for Old Grog, nickname of Edward Vernon †1757 English admiral responsible for diluting the sailors' rum
GROGGY: weak and unsteady on the feet or in action, from grog, named for Old Grog, nickname of Edward Vernon †1757 English admiral responsible for diluting the sailors' rum
GUNK: filthy, sticky, or greasy matter, from Gunk, trademark for a cleaning solvent
GUPPY: a small bony fish (Poecilia reticulata of the family Poeciliidae) especially of Barbados, Trinidad, and Venezuela that is a live-bearer and is often kept as an aquarium fish, named for R. J. L. Guppy †1916 Trinidadian naturalist
HARPY: a predatory person: leech; also, a shrewish woman, from Latin Harpyia, from Greek, a foul malign creature in Greek mythology that is part woman and part bird [the creature is always capitalized]
HICK: an unsophisticated provincial person, from Hick, nickname for Richard
HILLBILLY: often disparaging + offensive: a person from a backwoods area; from hill + Billy, nickname for William
JAKE: a sexually immature male wild turkey under two years old; probably from Jake, nickname for Jacob
JANITOR: one who keeps the premises of a building (such as an apartment or office) clean, tends the heating system, and makes minor repairs; also, a doorkeeper; from Janus, gate, from a Roman god that is identified with doors, gates, and all beginnings and that is depicted with two opposite faces
JENNY: a young female turkey, or any female bird, especially a wren; also, a female donkey; all from the name Jenny also, an early multiple-spindle machine for spinning wool or cotton, from Jenny, nickname for Jane
JULIENNE: a consommé containing vegetables cut into thin strips; or the thin strips, or the process of slicing them; from French, short for potage à la julienne, probably from Julienne woman's name
KOLA: variant spelling of cola, a carbonated soft drink colored usually with caramel and flavored usually with extracts from kola nuts, from Coca-Cola, a trademark
LULU: slang: one that is remarkable or wonderful; probably from Lulu, nickname from Louise
LYNCH: to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal approval or permission, from lynch law (the punishment of presumed crimes or offenses usually by death without due process of law), probably after Charles Lynch †1796 Virginia planter and justice of the peace Updated 2024-09-11
AMMONIA: borrowed from New Latin, derivative based on Latin sal ammōniacus "rock salt," literally, "salt of Ammon," from ammōniacus "of Ammon," borrowed from Greek ammōniakós, derivative of Ámmōn, an Egyptian deity …
AUTOMAT: M-W capitalizes (NOAD does not) and says “service mark.” Used for a cafeteria in which food is obtained especially from vending machines
AXEL: often capitalized: a jump in figure skating named for Axel Paulsen, Norwegian figure skater
BACCHANAL: drunken revelry or excessive indulgence; also, a devotee of Bacchus; also, of, relating to, or suggestive of the Bacchanalia; named for Bacchus, the Greek god of wine
BACCHANALIA: drunken revelry or excessive indulgence; also, a devotee of Bacchus; also, of, relating to, or suggestive of the Bacchanalia; named for Bacchus, the Greek god of wine
BACCHANALIAN: related to, or suggestive of, drunken revelry or excessive indulgence; also, a devotee of Bacchus; also, of, relating to, or suggestive of the Bacchanalia; named for Bacchus, the Greek god of wine
BACCHIC: of, relating to, or suggestive of Bacchus or the Bacchanalia: bacchanalian; named for Bacchus, the Greek god of wine
BAUD: a variable unit of data transmission speed (such as one bit per second); from baud (telegraphic transmission speed unit), from J. M. E. Baudot †1903 French inventor
BIDDY*: a hired girl or cleaning woman; or usually disparaging: woman, especially: an elderly woman; diminutive of the name Bridget [probably an Irish servant]
BLIMP: a pompous person with out-of-date or ultraconservative views, from Colonel Blimp, a cartoon character created by David Low
BOYCOTT: Charles C. Boycott †1897 English land agent in Ireland who was ostracized for refusing to reduce rents
BOYCOTTED: Charles C. Boycott †1897 English land agent in Ireland who was ostracized for refusing to reduce rents
BRAINIAC: probably from Brainiac, superintelligent villain in the Superman comic-book series BRUIN: a bear, Middle Dutch, name of the bear in Reynard the Fox
BUBBA: M-W’s only definition capitalizes (NOAD does not) and labels "informal, often disparaging; from Bubba, a stereotypical nickname of Southern white males. NOAD’s 1st def.: “Used as an affectionate form of address to a brother” (2d is the disparaging term)
CAMELLIA: any of a genus (Camellia) of shrubs or trees of the tea family, esp. an ornamental greenhouse shrub (C. japonica) with glossy leaves and roselike flowers from New Latin Camellia, from Camellus (Georg Josef Kamel †1706 Moravian Jesuit missionary)
CANNIBAL: one that eats the flesh of its own kind; from Spanish Caníbal … akin to Carib, a member of an Indian people of northern South America and the Lesser Antilles
CANOLA: Canola was originally a trademark name of the Rapeseed Association of Canada, and the name was a condensation of "Can" from Canada and "OLA" meaning "Oil, low acid" but is now a generic term for edible varieties of rapeseed oil in North America and Australasia.
CAPLET: a capsule-shaped medicinal tablet. NOTE: The name Caplets was formerly a U.S. registered trademark.
CARDIGAN: a usually collarless sweater or jacket that opens the full length of the center front, named for James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan †1868 English soldier; during the Crimean War his Light Brigade was dressed in a close-fitting, knitted jacket.
CARPACCIO: thinly sliced raw meat or fish served with a sauce; named for Vittore Carpaccio; from the prominent use of red in his painting
CLEMENTINE: the citrus fruit, from French clementine, probably from Clément Rodier, French priest who discovered the hybrid circa 1902
COLA: a carbonated soft drink colored usually with caramel and flavored usually with extracts from kola nuts, from Coca-Cola, a trademark
COLON: M-W’s entry is for colón: variants or less commonly colone: the basic monetary unit of El Salvador until 2001; also, the basic monetary unit of Costa Rica; from Spanish colón, from Cristóbal Colón Christopher Columbus
CUPID: a figure that represents Cupid as a naked usually winged boy often holding a bow and arrow; from Cupid, the Roman god of erotic love
CURIUM: a metallic radioactive chemical element that is only produced artificially; New Latin, from Marie & Pierre Curie
DAHLIA: any of a genus (Dahlia) of American tuberous-rooted composite herbs having opposite pinnate leaves and rayed flower heads and including many that are cultivated as ornamentals; genus name, from Anders Dahl †1789 Swedish botanist
DAPHNE: any of a genus (Daphne) of Eurasian shrubs of the mezereon family with apetalous flowers whose colored calyx resembles a corolla. Leaves resemble laurel. Named for Daphne, a nymph in Greek mythology who is transformed into a laurel tree to escape the pursuing Apollo
DECO: often capitalized, often attributive: Art Deco, a popular design style of the 1920s and 1930s … named for French Art Déco, from Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, an exposition … held in Paris, France, in 1925
DOILY: a small napkin or a small often decorative mat, named for Doily or Doyley flourished 1711 a London draper
DOLL: a small-scale figure of a human being used especially as a child's plaything; also, a pretty but often empty-headed young woman; a woman; darling, sweetheart; an attractive person, probably from Doll, nickname for Dorothy
DUNCE: a slow-witted or stupid person; from John Duns Scotus, whose once-accepted writings were ridiculed in the 16th century
FAIRY: a mythical being of folklore and romance usually having diminutive human form and magic powers; Middle English fairie from Anglo-French faerie, from fee fairy, from Latin Fata, goddess of fate, from fatum fate
FARAD: the unit of capacitance equal to the capacitance of a capacitor between whose plates there appears a potential of one volt when it is charged by one coulomb of electricity, named for Michael Faraday
FAUN: a figure in Roman mythology similar to but gentler than the satyr; from Faunus, “the rustic god of the forest, plains and fields”
FAUNA: animal life, especially: the animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment; from Latin Fauna, sister of Faunus
FAUNAE: plural of fauna: animal life, especially: the animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment; from Latin Fauna, sister of Faunus
FAUNAL: related to fauna: animal life, especially: the animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment; from Latin Fauna, sister of Faunus
FLORA: a treatise on or list of the plants of an area or period; or plant, bacterial, or fungal life, especially: such life characteristic of a region, period, or special environment; from Latin Flōra, the goddess of flowers and the flowering season
FLORAL: of or relating to a flora; or of, relating to, or depicting flowers; or a design or picture in which flowers predominate; from Flōra "the goddess Flora"
GAGE: greengage, any of several rather small rounded greenish or greenish-yellow cultivated plums, named for Sir William Gage †1820 English botanist
GANACHE: a sweet creamy chocolate mixture used especially as a filling or frosting, probably named for a bonbon manufactured by the Parisian confectioner Siraudin (probably after Les Ganaches, a play by Victorien Sardou first performed in October, 1862)
GEEZ: less common spelling of jeez; used as a mild oath or introductory expletive (as to express surprise); euphemism for Jesus
GIGAWATT: a unit of power equal to one billion watts (after James Watt †1819)
GILL: a girl, sweetheart [soft g] Middle English, from Gill, nickname for Gillian
GOLLY: used as a mild oath or to express surprise; euphemism for God
GOOGLE: to use the Google search engine, from Google, trademark for a search engine
GOOGLED: to use the Google search engine, from Google, trademark for a search engine
GOOGLING: to use the Google search engine, from Google, trademark for a search engine
GORGON: an ugly or repulsive woman, named for Gorgon (capitalized), any of three snake-haired sisters in Greek mythology whose appearance turns the beholder to stone
GORILLA: a very large typically black-colored anthropoid ape (Gorilla gorilla) of equatorial Africa … or an ugly or brutal man; from Greek Gorillai, plural, a tribe of hairy women mentioned in an account of a voyage around Africa
GRAY: the metre-kilogram-second unit of absorbed dose of ionizing radiation equal to an energy of one joule per kilogram of irradiated material —abbreviation Gy, named for Louis H. Gray †1965 British radiobiologist
GROG: alcoholic liquor, especially: liquor (such as rum) cut with water and now often served hot with lemon juice and sugar sometimes added, named for Old Grog, nickname of Edward Vernon †1757 English admiral responsible for diluting the sailors' rum
GROGGILY: weak and unsteady on the feet or in action, from grog, named for Old Grog, nickname of Edward Vernon †1757 English admiral responsible for diluting the sailors' rum
GROGGY: weak and unsteady on the feet or in action, from grog, named for Old Grog, nickname of Edward Vernon †1757 English admiral responsible for diluting the sailors' rum
GUNK: filthy, sticky, or greasy matter, from Gunk, trademark for a cleaning solvent
GUPPY: a small bony fish (Poecilia reticulata of the family Poeciliidae) especially of Barbados, Trinidad, and Venezuela that is a live-bearer and is often kept as an aquarium fish, named for R. J. L. Guppy †1916 Trinidadian naturalist
HARPY: a predatory person: leech; also, a shrewish woman, from Latin Harpyia, from Greek, a foul malign creature in Greek mythology that is part woman and part bird [the creature is always capitalized]
HICK: an unsophisticated provincial person, from Hick, nickname for Richard
HILLBILLY: often disparaging + offensive: a person from a backwoods area; from hill + Billy, nickname for William
JAKE: a sexually immature male wild turkey under two years old; probably from Jake, nickname for Jacob
JANITOR: one who keeps the premises of a building (such as an apartment or office) clean, tends the heating system, and makes minor repairs; also, a doorkeeper; from Janus, gate, from a Roman god that is identified with doors, gates, and all beginnings and that is depicted with two opposite faces
JENNY: a young female turkey, or any female bird, especially a wren; also, a female donkey; all from the name Jenny also, an early multiple-spindle machine for spinning wool or cotton, from Jenny, nickname for Jane
JULIENNE: a consommé containing vegetables cut into thin strips; or the thin strips, or the process of slicing them; from French, short for potage à la julienne, probably from Julienne woman's name
KOLA: variant spelling of cola, a carbonated soft drink colored usually with caramel and flavored usually with extracts from kola nuts, from Coca-Cola, a trademark
LULU: slang: one that is remarkable or wonderful; probably from Lulu, nickname from Louise
LYNCH: to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal approval or permission, from lynch law (the punishment of presumed crimes or offenses usually by death without due process of law), probably after Charles Lynch †1796 Virginia planter and justice of the peace Updated 2024-09-11