Sphinx

UK: 'sphinx': /ˈsfɪŋks/; 'Sphinx': /sfɪŋks/

US: /sfɪŋks/

US: (sfingks)

Inflections of 'sphinx' (n):

sphinxes

npl

sphinges

npl

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Sphinx / sfɪŋks/ noun the Sphinx ⇒

1. a monster with a woman's head and a lion's body. She lay outside Thebes, asking travellers a riddle and killing them when they failed to answer it. Oedipus answered the riddle and the Sphinx then killed herself
2. the huge statue of a sphinx near the pyramids at El Gîza in Egypt, of which the head is a carved portrait of the fourth-dynasty Pharaoh, Chephrēn

Etymology: 16th Century: via Latin from Greek, apparently from sphingein to hold fast

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

sphinx /sfɪŋks/   n. [countable] , pl. sphinx•es, sphin•ges 

/ˈsfɪndʒiz/ .
1. Ancient History an ancient Egyptian figure with the body of a lion and the head of a human, esp. a very large stone figure of this type near the pyramids of Giza.
2. a creature in Greek myth with wings, a woman's head, and a lion's body:
   The sphinx killed anyone passing by who was unable to answer the riddle she posed.
3. a mysterious person or thing.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

sphinx (sfingks),  n., pl. sphinx•es, sphin•ges 

(sfin′jēz). 
1. Fine Art (in ancient Egypt)
   • Ancient History a figure of an imaginary creature having the head of a man or an animal and the body of a lion.
   • (usually cap.) the colossal recumbent stone figure of this kind near the pyramids of Giza.
2. Mythology (cap.) [Class. Myth.] a monster, usually represented as having the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. Seated on a rock outside of Thebes, she proposed a riddle to travelers, killing them when they answered incorrectly, as all did before Oedipus. When he answered her riddle correctly the Sphinx killed herself.
3. Mythology any similar monster.
4. a mysterious, inscrutable person or thing, esp. one given to enigmatic questions or answers.

• Greek sphínx, equivalent. to sphing-, base of sphíngein to hold tight (compare sphincter) + -s nominative singular ending
• Latin
• late Middle English 1375–1425

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

sphinx / sfɪŋks/ noun (sphinxes, sphinges / ˈsfɪndʒiːz/)

1. any of a number of huge stone statues built by the ancient Egyptians, having the body of a lion and the head of a man
2. an inscrutable person