ennea-

1. a combining form meaning “nine,” used in the formation of compound words:

   enneahedron.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ennea-¹

< Greek, combining form of ennéa nine

Example Sentences

Ennea, en′ē-a, a prefix in words of Greek origin, signifying nine.—n.

From Project Gutenberg

Of a certain Rubenius Celer he says that he "would needs have it engraven on his tomb that he had led his life with Ennea, his dear wife, forty-three years and eight months, and never fell out."

From Project Gutenberg

About the same time they sent ten thousand settlers of their own citizens and the allies to settle the place then called Ennea Hodoi or Nine Ways, now Amphipolis.

From Project Gutenberg

They succeeded in gaining possession of Ennea Hodoi from the Edonians, but on advancing into the interior of Thrace were cut off in Drabescus, a town of the Edonians, by the assembled Thracians, who regarded the settlement of the place Ennea Hodoi as an act of hostility.

From Project Gutenberg

Words That Use Ennea-

What does ennea- mean?

Ennea- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “nine.” It is used in some scientific and other technical terms.

Ennea- comes from the Greek ennéa, meaning “nine.” The Latin counterpart is nōnus, meaning “ninth” and source of the combining form nona-, which you can learn more about in our Words That Use articles for that form.

Examples of ennea-

An enneagon is “a polygon having nine angles and nine sides.” It’s also known as a nonagon.

The first part of the word, ennea-, means “nine.” The -gon portion of the word may also look familiar: it is a combining form meaning “angled” or “angular,” from the Greek gōnía. Enneagon literally translates to “nine-angled.”

Enneagon comes from the Greek enneágōnos, which features the equivalent form of ennea- in the language.

Another word you may have encountered that features ennea- is the Enneagram, a popular psychological model that categorizes human personality into nine types.

What are some words that use or are related to the combining form ennea-?

• ennead
• enneahedron
• enneastyle
• enneastylos
• enneasyllabic (using the equivalent form of ennea- in Greek)

What are some other forms that ennea- may be commonly confused with?

• -enne
• endo-

Break it down!

The combining form -hedron means “face,” in the sense of a face of a geometrical solid figure, i.e., a cube has six faces. How many faces does an enneahedron have?