herculean

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌhɜːrkjəˈliːən/ UK /ˌhɜːkjʊˈliːən/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
requiring or showing enormous strength or effort

Clearing the flooded basement was a herculean task.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · requiring or showing... arduous strenuous gargantuan colossal prodigious mighty formidable demanding

Opposites

easy effortless trivial feeble puny

Word family

Related forms Hercules

Etymology

From Hercules, the Greco-Roman hero (Latin Hercules, Greek Hēraklēs) renowned for superhuman strength and the twelve labours, + the suffix -an.

Hercules Latin Ἡρακλῆς Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# herculean

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˌhɜːrkjəˈliːən
**IPA (UK):** ˌhɜːkjʊˈliːən

## Meanings
1. requiring or showing enormous strength or effort

## Examples
- Clearing the flooded basement was a herculean task.

## Synonyms
- arduous
- strenuous
- gargantuan
- colossal
- prodigious
- mighty
- formidable
- demanding

## Antonyms
- easy
- effortless
- trivial
- feeble
- puny

## Related Forms
- Hercules

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: Hercules
- Root: Ἡρακλῆς

## Etymology
From Hercules, the Greco-Roman hero (Latin Hercules, Greek Hēraklēs) renowned for superhuman strength and the twelve labours, + the suffix -an.

## AI Etymology
herculean comes from Hercules, the Greco-Roman hero (Latin Hercules, Greek Hēraklēs) renowned for superhuman strength and the twelve labours, + the suffix -an. Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. In present English, the adjective sense is "requiring or showing enormous strength or effort", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as Hercules. Its semantic neighborhood includes arduous, strenuous, gargantuan, and colossal, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin Hercules and Ancient Greek Ἡρακλῆς.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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