Compound words are just fun. German may be the best. They have about Zweihundertvierundachtzigtausend long compound words. But, Greek’s no slouch. And, the word for the week is a pretty creative one. Let’s say you were looking at a giraffe and trying to describe it. You think, “It’s like a cross between a camel (κάμηλος) and a leopard (πάρδαλις). Let’s call it a camel-leopard!” Well, that’s the Greek mind, and thus you have ἡ καμηλοπάρδαλις.

Well, what would you call a monkey (πίθηκος) with a pig’s (χοῖρος) face? Your mother-in-law? No, silly, you’d call it ὁ χοιροπίθηκος. And that’s your Greek Word of the Week.