Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday October 2, 2012

hamartia \hah-mahr-TEE-uh\ , noun:
Tragic flaw.

What is Oedipus' hamartia that leads to his self-fulfilling self-reversal?
-- Laszlo Versényi, Man's Measure

We called it by many different things, such as hubris or hamartia, but given the way you butcher Latin, let's stick with English.
-- Stephanie Draven, The Fever and the Fury

Hamartia stems from the Greek word hamartánein which meant "to err." However, it entered English in the late 1800s.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for hamartia

 

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