Thalassoma
/ˌθæl.əˈsoʊ.mə/noun
A genus of brightly colored wrasses.
Did you know?Thalassoma is built from Greek thalassa “sea” + sōma “body,” and that same ancient sōma root also lives on in modern words like psychosomatic and somatic.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
thalassa
“sea”
Ancient Greek
Greek
sōma
“body”
Modern Scientific Latin
Latin
Thalassoma
“a taxonomic genus name formed from Greek elements, referring to a sea-associated body/form”
Modern English
English
thalassoma
“the name of a genus of wrasses”
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