ichor

[ahy-kawr, ahy-ker]

noun

1. Classical Mythology.,  an ethereal fluid flowing in the veins of the gods.

2. Pathology.,  an acrid, watery discharge, as from an ulcer or wound.

ichor

/ ˈaɪkɔː /

noun

1. Greek myth the fluid said to flow in the veins of the gods

2. pathol a foul-smelling watery discharge from a wound or ulcer

Other Word Forms

• ichorous adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ichor¹

1630–40; < Late Latin īchōr (in medical sense) < Greek īchṓr

Word History and Origins

Origin of ichor¹

C17: from Greek ikhōr, of obscure origin

Example Sentences

The earthy scent is called petrichor, from the Greek words petra, meaning "stone", and ichor, meaning "the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods".

Read more on BBC

With sweat and ichor spewing everywhere, referee Harvey Dock got to double-dutchin’ in and out of the middle of the two gladiators before he finally, mercifully, stopped the fight.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Weirdness has its own conventions; horror makes much of ichor and tentacles, of slithering and maws in the wrong places.

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On the paving stones, a trail of golden ichor shimmered—the blood of the gods.

Read more on Literature

Consider the Sanskrit court poet Kalidasa, in whose verses we encounter a river scented with the fragrant ichor of wild elephants.

Read more on New York Times