rhea

¹

[ ree-uh ]

noun

1. the ramie plant or fiber.

Rhea

²

[ ree-uh ]

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a Titan, the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, the wife and sister of Cronus, and the mother of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Hades, Demeter, and Hestia: identified with Cybele and, by the Romans, with Ops.
2. Astronomy. one of the moons of Saturn.
3. (lowercase) either of two South American, ratite birds, Rhea americana or Pterocnemia pennata, resembling the African ostrich but smaller and having three toes.
4. a female given name.

-rhea

³

1. variant of -rrhea.

Rhea

¹

/ ˈrɪə /

noun

1. Greek myth a Titaness, wife of Cronus and mother of several of the gods, including Zeus: a fertility goddess Roman counterpartOps

rhea

²

/ ˈrɪə /

noun

1. either of two large fast-running flightless birds, Rhea americana or Pterocnemia pennata , inhabiting the open plains of S South America: order Rheiformes . They are similar to but smaller than the ostrich, having three-toed feet and a completely feathered body See ratite

Rhea

³

/ ˈrɪə /

noun

1. the second largest satellite of the planet Saturn

Word History and Origins

Origin of rhea¹

First recorded in 1850–55, rhea is from the Assamese word rihā

Origin of rhea²

First recorded in 1700–10; from Latin Rhea, from Greek Rhéa; further origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of rhea¹

C19: New Latin; arbitrarily named after Rhea ¹

Example Sentences

Evidence suggests that the loss of flight evolved independently as many as six times, rather than just once, in the ancestors of different ratites — the group of flightless birds including the extinct moa and elephant birds as well as the ostrich, kiwi, cassowary, emu and rhea.

From Salon

Arnold performed Friday night at the famous Los Angeles Comedy Store along with Mark Maron, Caroline Rhea and several other comedians who donated their time to tell jokes – some of them political, and some of them – like a story Arnold told about Peter Criss of “Kiss” fame – not so political, but very funny.

From Salon

The next time Donald Trump talks about how he needs to “protect” women would certainly be more interesting if Catherine Rhea, Kathy Griffin, or a host of other female comics were present to push back.

From Salon

The next time Donald Trump talks about how he needs to “protect” women would certainly be more interesting if Catherine Rhea, Kathy Griffin, or a host of other female comics were present to push back.

From Salon

In the study of Archosaurs, small birds simply had a harder time actually carrying out visual perspective-taking than big birds, like the rhea or the emu: they weren’t tall enough to see what the experimenter was looking at.

From Salon