Wiktionary

myriad

English

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WOTD – 5 September 2009
 
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English numbers (edit)
 ←  1,000  ←  9,000 10,000 100,000  → [a], [b], [c] 10,000,000 (107)  → [a], [b]
1,000
    Cardinal: ten thousand, myriad
    Ordinal: ten-thousandth, myriadth
    Multiplier: ten-thousandfold, myriadfold
    Germanic collective: myriad
    Metric collective prefix: myria-
    Metric fractional prefix: dimi-
    Number of years: decamillennium

Etymology

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From French myriade, from Late Latin mȳriadem (accusative of mȳrias), from Ancient Greek μυριάς (muriás, “number of 10,000”), from μυρίος (muríos, “numberless, countless, infinite”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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myriad (plural myriads)

  1. (formal) Ten thousand; 10,000 [from 16th c.]
    1. Synonym of decamillennium: a period of 10000 years.
  2. A countless number or multitude (of specified things) [from 16th c.]
    Earth hosts a myriad of animals.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 622–624:
      O Myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers / Matchleſs, but with th' Almighty, and that ſtrife / Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire,
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 239:
      A myriad of beginnings to her intended discourse darted into her mind; but, as is usual in such cases, she chose the one the very worst suited to her purpose. "I never intend to marry," said she, in a faltering voice.
    • 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:
      I saw battle-corpses, myriads of them, / And the white skeletons of young men, I saw them, / I saw the debris and debris of all the slain soldiers of the war, […]
    • 1914, Henry Graham Dakyns, Xenophon, Cyropaedia, Book I:
      How far he surpassed them all may be felt if we remember that no Scythian, although the Scythians are reckoned by their myriads, has ever succeeded in dominating a foreign nation ...

Usage notes

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Used as an adjective (see below), myriad requires neither an article before it nor a preposition after. Because of this, some consider the usage described in sense 2 above, where 'myriad' acts as part of a nominal (or noun) group (that is, "a myriad of animals"), to be tautological. [1]

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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myriad (not comparable)

  1. (modifying a singular noun) Multifaceted, having innumerable elements [from 18th c.]
    • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage, published 1993, page 131:
      one night he would be singing at the barred window and yelling down out of the soft myriad darkness of a May night; the next night he would be gone [...].
    • 2011 April 6–19, Kara Krekeler, "Researchers at Washington U. have 'itch' to cure problem", West End Word, 40 (7), p. 8:
      "As a clinician, it's a difficult symptom to treat," Cornelius said. "The end symptom may be the same, but what's causing it may be myriad."
  2. (modifying a plural noun) Great in number; innumerable, multitudinous [from 18th c.]
    Earth hosts myriad animals.
    • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 September 2013:
      Driven by a perceived political need to adopt a hard-line stance, Mr. Cameron’s coalition government has imposed myriad new restrictions, the aim of which is to reduce net migration to Britain to below 100,000.

Translations

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See also

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Swedish

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Noun

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myriad c

  1. a myriad

Declension

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Declension of myriad
nominative genitive
singular indefinite myriad myriads
definite myriaden myriadens
plural indefinite myriader myriaders
definite myriaderna myriadernas

References

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