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• cephalous
  cephalous

  adjective

  having a head.
• -cephalous
  -cephalous

  a combining form meaning “having a head or heads” of the specified sort or number.

cephalous

¹ American  

[sef-uh-luhs] / ˈsɛf ə ləs /

adjective

1. having a head.

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-cephalous ² American  

1. a combining form meaning “having a head or heads” of the specified sort or number.

   brachycephalous.

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Usage

What does -cephalous mean? The combining form -cephalous is used like a suffix meaning “having a head or heads.” It is used in some medical and scientific terms. The form -cephalous comes from the Greek kephalḗ, meaning “head.”What are variants of -cephalous?A variant of -cephalous is -cephalic, as in monocephalic. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use -cephalic article. Corresponding forms of -cephalous combined to the beginning of words are cephalo- and cephal-, which you can learn more about in our Words That Use articles for each form. Also deriving from kephalḗ are the combining forms encephalo- and encephal-, meaning “brain.” Discover how these forms are used in our Words That Use encephalo- and encephal- articles.

Etymology

Origin of cephalous¹

First recorded in 1870–75; cephal- + -ous

Origin of -cephalous²

< Greek -kephalos -headed, derivative of kephalḗ head; see -ous