Bucephalus

American  

[byoo-sef-uh-luhs] / byuˈsɛf ə ləs /

noun

1. the horse used by Alexander the Great on most of his military campaigns.

---

Bucephalus British  

/ bjuːˈsɛfələs /

noun

1. the favourite horse of Alexander the Great

---

Etymology

Origin of Bucephalus

C17: from Latin, from Greek Boukephalos , from bous ox + kephalē head

Example Sentences

Starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin as the famous detective during his younger years, Mamma Mia actor Firth plays Sir Bucephalus Hodge, the dean of Oxford University, where Holmes is a porter.

From BBC • Mar. 6, 2026

Colin Firth plays Sir Bucephalus Hodge, a bigwig whose exact credentials escape me, but who’s giving the university a new science building.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2026

Not written poetry, or doggerel comparing every allowance-race winner to Shadowfax or Bucephalus, but the aesthetic intensity one experiences in the presence of the inexplicable.

From Time • May 3, 2013

Riding Bucephalus at the head of a great army, he conquered the lands from Greece to the Indus Valley.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2012

"Bear me, Bucephalus, among the billows,—hey! for the Tygris!"

From Wild Oats or, The Strolling Gentlemen by Anonymous