ἔλλειψις

ἐλλείπω (elleípō, “to fall short, omit”) +‎ -σις (-sis, verbal noun suffix), the former from ἐν- (en-) +‎ λείπω (leípō, “to leave behind”).

ἔλλειψῐς • (élleipsis) f (genitive ἐλλείψεως); third declension

1. A falling short, defect
   • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Democritus, Collected Works 102
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 356a
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Physics 187a.17
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1042b.25
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 2.1106b.16:

     λέγω δὲ τὴν ἠθικήν· αὕτη γάρ ἐστι περὶ πάθη καὶ πράξεις, ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἔστιν ὑπερβολὴ καὶ ἔλλειψις καὶ τὸ μέσον.

     légō dè tḕn ēthikḗn; haútē gár esti perì páthē kaì práxeis, en dè toútois éstin huperbolḕ kaì élleipsis kaì tò méson.

     • 1911 translation by D. P. Chase

       I mean moral ; for it is this that is concerned with passions and actions, and in these there is excess, defect, and the intermediate.

2. (geometry) The conic section: an ellipse
   • 262 BCE – 190 BCE, Apollonius of Perga, Conics 1.13
3. (grammar) An ellipsis (the omission of a word)
   • 250 CE – 350 CE, Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 14.644a
   • 50 CE – 250 CE, Apollonius Dyscolus, On Syntax 117.19
4. (grammar) The omission of a letter, elision
   • 50 CE – 250 CE, Apollonius Dyscolus, On Pronouns 56.28
5. An eclipse
   • 495 CE – 570 CE, Olympiodorus the Younger, Commentary on the Aristotle's Meteorology 67.37

• (antonym(s) of “defect”): ὑπερβολή (huperbolḗ), ὑπεροχή (huperokhḗ)

• Greek: έλλειψη (élleipsi)
• → Latin: ellīpsis (see there for further descendants)

• “ἔλλειψις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἔλλειψις in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• ἔλλειψις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • default idem, page 203.
  • defect idem, page 204.
  • deficiency idem, page 205.
  • failure idem, page 301.