κέντρον

Ancient Greek

From Proto-Indo-European *ḱent-r-om (“pointed tool”), from *ḱent- (“to prick; point”); direct cognate with Albanian çandër (“forked pole”) and probably Old Armenian սանտր (santr), սանդր (sandr, “comb”).

Equivalent to κεντέω (kentéō, “I sting”) +‎ -τρον (-tron).

κέντρον • (kéntron) n (genitive κέντρου); second declension

Something with a sharp point: point, spike, spur
sting, quill, thorn
Torture device or instrument of motivation: whip, goad
nail, rivet
stationary point of a pair of compasses
center of a circle
(figuratively, vulgar) penis
- Sotades on Ptolemy II's incestuous marriage, cited by Plutarch, De liberis educandis 11a, and Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 14.621a:
  εἰς οὐχ ὁσίην τρυμαλιὴν τὸ κέντρον ὠθεῖς.
  eis oukh hosíēn trumaliḕn tò kéntron ōtheîs.
  You're sticking your prick in an unholy hole.

Second declension of τὸ κέντρον; τοῦ κέντρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ κέντρον tò kéntron	τὼ κέντρω tṑ kéntrō	τᾰ̀ κέντρᾰ tà kéntra
Genitive	τοῦ κέντρου toû kéntrou	τοῖν κέντροιν toîn kéntroin	τῶν κέντρων tôn kéntrōn
Dative	τῷ κέντρῳ tôi kéntrōi	τοῖν κέντροιν toîn kéntroin	τοῖς κέντροις toîs kéntrois
Accusative	τὸ κέντρον tò kéntron	τὼ κέντρω tṑ kéntrō	τᾰ̀ κέντρᾰ tà kéntra
Vocative	κέντρον kéntron	κέντρω kéntrō	κέντρᾰ kéntra
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

→ Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܩܢܛܪܘܢ‎ (qenṭrōn, qanṭrōn)
→ Georgian: კენტრო (ḳenṭro)
Greek: κέντρο (kéntro)
→ Latin: centrum (see there for further descendants)
→ Old Armenian: կենդրովն (kendrovn), կենտրովն (kentrovn), կենտրոն (kentron)
- Armenian: կենտրոն (kentron), կեդրոն (kedron)
→ Sanskrit: केन्द्र (kendra) (see there for further descendants)