myriad

From French myriade, from Late Latin myriadis (genitive of myrias), from Ancient Greek μυριάδος (muriádos), genitive of μυριάς (muriás, “number of 10,000”), from μυρίος (muríos, “numberless, countless, infinite”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪɹi.æd/, /ˈmɪɹi.əd/

• Audio (AU)

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myriad (plural myriads)

1. (now historical) Ten thousand; 10,000 [from 16th c.]
2. A countless number or multitude (of specified things) [from 16th c.]

   Earth hosts a myriad of animals.

   • Xenophon, Cyropaedia, Book I:

     How far he surpassed them all may be felt if we remember that no Scythian, although the Scythians are reckoned by their myriads, has ever succeeded in dominating a foreign nation ...

Used as an adjective (see below), 'myriad' requires neither an article before it nor a preposition after. Because of this, some consider the usage described in sense 2 above, where 'myriad' acts as part of a nominal (or noun) group (that is, "a myriad of animals"), to be tautological.

myriad (not comparable)

1. (modifying a singular noun) Multifaceted, having innumerable elements [from 18th c.]
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, p. 131:

     one night he would be singing at the barred window and yelling down out of the soft myriad darkness of a May night; the next night he would be gone [...].

   • 2011 April 6–19, Kara Krekeler, "Researchers at Washington U. have 'itch' to cure problem", West End Word, 40 (7), p. 8:

     "As a clinician, it's a difficult symptom to treat," Cornelius said. "The end symptom may be the same, but what's causing it may be myriad."

2. (modifying a plural noun) Great in number; innumerable, multitudinous [from 18th c.]

   Earth hosts myriad animals.

   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, "London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):

     Driven by a perceived political need to adopt a hard-line stance, Mr. Cameron’s coalition government has imposed myriad new restrictions, the aim of which is to reduce net migration to Britain to below 100,000.

• plethora

myriad c

1. a myriad

• myriad in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)