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''caduceus'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260723122144-00-⌔

caduceus - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Noun

caduceus (plural caducei)

  • The official wand carried by a herald in ancient Greece and Rome, specifically the one carried in mythology by Hermes, the messenger of the gods, usually represented with two snakes twined around it.
    • ✤ Synonym: golden wand
    • ✤ * Caduceus * the rod of Mercury,/With which he wonts the Stygian realmes inuade […]1
  • A symbol (☤) representing a staff with two snakes wrapped around it, used to indicate merchants and messengers. It is also sometimes incorrectly substituted for the rod of Asclepius as a symbol of medicine.
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:caduceus.

Etymology

Via Latin cādūceus, cādūceum, adaptation of Doric Ancient Greek καρύκειον (karúkeion, “herald’s wand or staff”). This and Attic Greek κηρύκειον (kērúkeion) are derived from κῆρυξ (kêrux, “herald, public messenger”). Related to κηρύσσω (kērússō, “to announce”).

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA: /kəˈdu.si.əs/, /kəˈdjuː.si.əs/
  • Audio (US): 🔊

Printed 2026-07-23.

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Footnotes

  1. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC: ↩