pyx

or pix

[ piks ]

/ pɪks /

noun

Ecclesiastical.

the box or vessel in which the reserved Eucharist or Host is kept.
a watch-shaped container for carrying the Eucharist to the sick.

Also called pyx chest. a box or chest at a mint, in which specimen coins are deposited and reserved for trial by weight and assay.

Nearby words

Origin of pyx

1350–1400; Middle English pyxe < Latin pyxis < Greek pyxís a box, orig. made of boxwood

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pyx

There was a canopy over the altar with curtains, and here was hung the pyx or box containing the Host, or consecrated bread.
Curiosities of Christian History|Croake James
In the Eastern Cloister you see an ancient door, leading to what is now called the chapel of the Pyx.
Little Folks (November 1884)|Various
The panagia or pyx worn by a bishop, or higher prelate, is often an exquisite piece of jewelry.
The Story of Moscow|Wirt Gerrare
The spellings poeple, lenghth, satisficed are standard; pix may be more recognizable as pyx.
A Treatise of the Cohabitation Of the Faithful with the Unfaithful|Peter Martyr

In this way his letters became what they are, like coins put in the pyx, and mintage that survives the best of the goldsmiths.
Charles Carleton Coffin|William Elliot Griffis, D. D.

British Dictionary definitions for pyx

pyx

less commonly pix

/ (pɪks) /

noun

Also called: pyx chest the chest in which coins from the British mint are placed to be tested for weight, etc

Christianity any receptacle in which the Eucharistic Host is kept

Word Origin for pyx

C14: from Latin pyxis small box, from Greek, from puxos box tree

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pyx

pyx

c.1400, "a box," especially the vessel in which the host or consecrated bread is preserved, from Latin pyxis, from Greek pyxis "box-wood; a box," from pyxos "box-wood; box-tree," of uncertain origin.