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I am looking for a word that means "late bloomer" and I believe is of Greek, not Latin, origin, though I'm not sure of the etymology.

herisson
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David
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1 Answers1

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I did a quick search for Greek words with this meaning and found:

opsimath (ὀψιμαθής)

from the Greek ὀψέ (opsé, “late”) and μανθάνω (manthánō, “I learn”), which, in the wiki, is linked to "late bloomer".

At first I thought this was a purely modern medical term, but I did find an entry in some Ancient Greek lexicons, and it appears in Lucian, Isocrates, Plato, Epicurus, Cicero, Xenophon, and Theophrastus.

DukeZhou
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    Retarded is not synonymous with late bloomer. – eyeballfrog Jul 12 '17 at 00:00
  • @eyeballfrog I was avoiding using the actual word, but I was going by the Oxford definition: Less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one's age. (I realize I posed a link to the Merriam-Webster's definition, which has caused confusion. My bad: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/retarded) – DukeZhou Jul 12 '17 at 02:37
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    Certainly opsimath was the first word that came to my own mind. :) – tchrist Jul 12 '17 at 02:51
  • @DukeZhou It's just a word. And a late bloomer starts out behind, but catches up later. This is not the same as retarded, which describes someone who can't catch up. (Also, Oxford's definition seems inconsistent with common usage, which is exclusively about mental disability.) – eyeballfrog Jul 12 '17 at 06:06
  • Thanks, all. Opsimath was the word I was searching for. I first heard it decades ago, maybe on Firing Line, from the sesquipedalian host. – David Jul 12 '17 at 15:35
  • @eyeballfrog I agree with you on common usage, but in terms of the formal usage, not being able to catch up is not a given. :) – DukeZhou Jul 12 '17 at 17:05