hipp(o)-

Horse.

Greek hippos, horse.

Most terms are figurative: hippodrome now occurs in the names of theatres, but in ancient Greece or Rome it was a course for chariot or horse races (Greek dromos, race or course); etymologically speaking, the large semi-aquatic African mammal called a hippopotamus is a river horse (Greek potamos, river); the hippocampus (Greek kampos, sea monster) is one of the elongated ridges in each lateral ventricle of the brain, so called because it was thought to look like a fish called the sea-horse. Literal terms are rare: hippuric acid is a compound present in the urine of herbivores and other mammals, especially horses, from which it was first obtained. The Hippocratic oath taken by doctors comes instead from the name of the classical Greek physician Hippocrates.