gymno-, gymn- (Greek: naked, nude, uncovered, bare, exposed, unclad, disrobed, undressed).gymnasiarch:
From Greek antiquity, an Athenian official whose duty was to supervise athletic schools and games.
gymnasium:
Via Latin, "school", from Greek gumnazein or (gymnazein), "to exercise naked" (a custom in ancient times); hence, "to train", from gumnos or (gumnos), "naked". 1. A large room equipped for physical exercise or training of various kinds, e.g., in a school or a private club.
2. In Europe, principally Germany and other German-speaking countries, a secondary school where the emphasis is on academic subjects rather than on technical training. The ancient Greeks placed a high value on both physical and mental fitness. Each important city in Greece had a public area set aside in which young men would gather to exercise, compete in sports, and receive training in philosophy, music, and literature. Living in a warm climate and not wanting to be encumbered in their activities by unnecessary clothing, the Greeks would typically do their exercising in the nude. The name given to the exercise area was therefore gymnasion, literally "school for naked exercise", from the verb gymnazein, "to exercise naked", a derivative of the adjective gymnos, "naked". The Greek gymnasion, became the Latin gymnasium, which was used in two distinct senses to mean both "an exercise ground" and "a public school". Springfield, Massachusetts:
Merriam-Webster Inc., 1989, p. 208.
gymnast, gymnasiast:
Someone who is good at gymnastics, especially someone involved in gymnastics as a competitive sport.
gymnastic:
Relating to or involving gymnastics or demonstrating athleticism and agility.
gymnastics:
1. Exercise using equipment such as bars, rings, and vaulting horses, designed to develop agility and muscular strength.
2. The competitive sport in which athletes perform a series of exercises on pieces of gymnastic equipment. 3. The performance of a series of complex mental or physical operations of a particular kind, usually rapidly and with great agility and skill. gymnanthous:
Having naked flowers that are without both calyx and corolla.
gymnobiblism:
The opinion that the bare text of the Bible, without note or comment, may be safely put before the unlearned as a sufficient guide to religious truth. So gymnobiblical (adjective), pertaining to, or holding, this opinion; and gymnobiblist, a believer in gymnobiblism.
gymnocarpous, gymnocarpic:
Not protected or covered during basidiocarp development; naked or uncovered fruit.
gymnocryptosis:
Telling others about one's intimate sexual experiences. The word may apply to women or men, and does not necessarily imply boasting.
gymnogenous:
A reference to certain birds that are naked when hatched.
gymnogynomania:
The obsession of the "peeping Tom"; male voyeurism. A male voyeur is called a gymnogynomaniac.
gymnogynous:
In botany, having an uncovered ovary (seed).
gymnopedia, gymnopaedia, gymnopedic, gymnopaedic:
The distinctive epithet (in ancient Greece) of the dances or other exercises performed by naked boys at public festivals.
Historically this word applies, says the Century Dictionary (1914), to ancient Greek "dances and gymnastic exercises performed, as at public festivals, by boys or youths unclothed." The festivals where this naked dancing took place and the dancing itself were known as gymnopaedia (primarily a British spelling) or gymnopedia (primarily an American spelling). gymnophily:
1. Having a special fondness for being in the nude.
2. An abnormal interest in nakedness. gymnophobia:
1. A pathological fear of being naked.
2. A morbid dread of seeing a naked person or of an uncovered part of the body. gymnophoria:
The sense that someone is mentally undressing you, or that a person is viewing you naked even though you are clothed. Also, apodyopsis.
gymnopterous:
Having naked wings, without hairs or scales; having sheathless wings.
gymnorespia:
An aversion for the naked body.
gymnorhinal:
In zoology, having nostrils without feathers, as certain birds.
gymnoscopic:
A reference to a desire to see naked bodies.
gymnoscopy:
Sexual pleasure derived from viewing the nakedness of the opposite sex.
gymnosophist:
One of a sect of ancient Hindu philosophers of ascetic habits (known to the Greeks through the reports of the companions of Alexander), who wore little or no clothing, denied themselves meat, and gave themselves up to mystical contemplation.
gymnosophism, gymnosophy:
The supposed practices of Indian monks, as described by some confused early Chkristian writers. The term is Greek for "naked sages". Actually, only the ascetic Jains practiced Nudism, while Buddhists wore saffron robes.
gymnosperm, gynospermous:
In botany, having seeds that are not enclosed in an ovary or carpel.
gymnospore:
An uncovered spore.
gymnothesaurist:
Denotes someone who collects pictures of partly clothed women or men (or both?).
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