phylactery
2 synonyms for phylactery, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — In Judaism, either of two small leather boxes containing scrolls of Torah passages, traditionally strapped to the arm and forehead during morning prayers.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun Judaism
In Judaism, either of two small leather boxes containing scrolls of Torah passages, traditionally strapped to the arm and forehead during morning prayers.
“He wound the leather strap of the phylactery around his arm before morning prayers.”
2. noun fantasy, roleplaying games
In fantasy fiction and role-playing games, an enchanted object used to contain and protect a being's soul, most often a lich's.
“The adventurers knew the lich could not be killed for good until its phylactery was destroyed.”
How to use phylactery
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Phylactery is a fairly formal, specialist word, met mostly in religious writing or fantasy fiction rather than everyday speech.
Etymology
Phylactery reached English through Late Middle English forms such as philacterie, from Late Latin phylacterium, itself from Koine Greek phŭlăktḗrĭon, meaning amulet or tefilla. That Greek word was used in the New Testament to translate the Hebrew word for tefillin, and traces back further to an Ancient Greek word for a...
Full origin of phylactery →