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Which Greek words inspired Thomas More’s name Utopia?
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utopia
Sir Thomas More, oil on panel by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1527; in the Frick Collection, New York City.
Thomas More coined the name Utopia by combining two Greek words: ou, meaning "no" or "not," and topos, meaning "place," to signify "nowhere."123
More’s choice of name was intentional, reflecting his awareness that a society of such perfect order and reason was unlikely to exist on Earth. Additionally, the name serves as a clever linguistic pun; a prefatory poem in the work suggests the Greek term eu-topos, which translates to "good place." By blending these roots, More created a term that simultaneously evokes the concept of an ideal society while acknowledging its status as an imaginary, unreachable location.1324