sphingine

English

Etymology

From (the stem of) Latin sphinx +‎ -ine.

Adjective

sphingine (comparative more sphingine, superlative most sphingine)

1. (rare) Sphinx-like.
   • 1925, Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves:

     For whenever she asked him how much he had written, he regularly answered 'Nothing,' smiling at her meanwhile that courteous and Sphingine smile which Mrs Aldwinkle always found so baffling, so pre-eminently 'queer'.

   • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 109:

     The word I was looking for, I suppose, was "sphingine" – I thought of the baleful prehistoric smile of the Mycenaean women.

Noun

sphingine (countable and uncountable, plural sphingines)

1. (organic chemistry) The amino alcohol 2-amino-octadecanol CH₃(CH₂)₁₅-CH(NH₂)-CH₂OH related to sphingosine; any related amino alcohol