Myriad is the name given to a Greek numeral which is equivalent to the value of ten thousand.
In Portuguese, however, the word myriad is also used figuratively to represent a large amount of something, but of indefinite value.
Example:"Look at the sky and see the myriad stars".
Etymologically, the word myriad in the Portuguese language originated from the French myriad, which in turn derives from the Latin myrias, and from the greek murias.
In fact, for the ancient Greeks the maximum numerical value that could be reached was called myriad of myriads, which corresponds to the number of one hundred million.
This expression is present in some translations of the Christian Bible: “And I looked, and I saw the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders; and their number was myriad of myriads and thousands and thousands” (Revelation 5:11).
See also the meaning of Roman numbers.
Synonyms for myriad
The main synonyms of myriad from the sense of "immense amount of something" are:
- Abundance
- myriad
- copiousness
- Without end
- The amount
- Profusion
- Legion
- infinity
- immensity
- overabundance
- Plethora
- Crowd
- Without term
See also: the meaning of Infinite.