paean

UK/ˈpiː.ən/US/ˈpi.ən/

nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,509 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: paeans

A paean is a song or speech of enthusiastic praise. A paean to freedom, paeans of praise, deliver a paean.

It takes to — a paean to something — and it always means unqualified praise, which is why critics use it drily of reviews that gush. In Greek it was a hymn to Apollo, whose title Paian meant the healer. Note that it is spelt paean, not paeon or peon.

Definitions of paean

1nounpaeanA song or speech of enthusiastic praise.C2
“The film is a paean to the beauty of the Scottish Highlands.”

paean is a song of praise.

Where it comes from

Greek paian was a hymn to Apollo, from his title Paian, the healer.

Proto-Indo-European
*pēu-
Latin
paeān — a hymn, especially a victory hymn, to Apollo or another god
English, today
paean

Built from

Ἰὼ Παιᾱ́ν · Ancient Greek — O Paean!, Thanks to Paean!
*παιάϝων · Ancient Greek — one who heals illnesses through magic
*παϝία · Ancient Greek — to blow
παίω · Ancient Greek — to hit, strike

From Latin paeān (“a hymn, especially a victory hymn, to Apollo or another god”), from Ancient Greek παιᾱ́ν (“a chant or song, especially a thanksgiving or victory hymn, to Apollo under the name Παιᾱ́ν”), from the phrase Ἰὼ Παιᾱ́ν (“O Paean!, Thanks to Paean!”). According to Homer, Paián or Paean was the name of the physician of the gods; its further etymology is unclear. It has been suggested that Παιᾱ́ν is derived from παιάϝων (“one who heals illnesses through magic”), from παῖϝα, παϝία (“to blow”), related to παίω (“to hit, strike”) (from Proto-Indo-European pēu-, pyu-, pū- (“to hit; to cut”)), or from παύω (“to bring to an end; to abate, to stop”) (from Proto-Indo-European peh₂w- (“few, little; smallness”)), or that it may be a Pre-Greek word. Compare Middle French - and French pæan (also French péan), Italian peana, Portuguese peã, péan.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

paean in the wild

Recorded and released in 1965, the song is a mock paean to the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and its then-famously polluted Boston Harbor and Charles River.
Dirty Water
Athenaeus mentions a paean which he wrote in honour of Craterus, the Macedonian, and which was sung at Delphi to the sound of the lyre.
Alexinus
In prosody a paeon (or paean) is a metrical foot used in both poetry and prose.
Paeon (prosody)
Paeons were often used in the traditional Greek hymn to Apollo called paeans.
Paeon (prosody)
The film has been described as a paean to Austria.
The Blue Danube (1926 film)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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