centro-, centr-, centri-, kentro-

(Greek > Latin: center; middle point, mid point; focus, focal point, focalize; zero in on)

This element originally meant "sharp point, goad" or "spur".

electronic data-processing center, EDP center
A place where automatically operated equipment is kept, including computers, designed to simplify the interpretation and use of data gathered by instrumentation installation or information-collection agencies.
epicenter (EP i sen" tur) (s) (noun), epicenters (pl)
1. The point on the earth's surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake: The area where Joe and his family lived was at the epicenter of the violent movements taking place just below the surface of the ground.
2. A main point of something which is normally a difficult or an unpleasant situation: The doctor was at the epicenter of concern about his patient's physical condition.
The main point of interest.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

epicentral
ethnocentric
The viewpoint that one’s own group is the center of everything.
ethnocentricity
The tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own ethnic culture.
ethnocentrism, ethnocentricism
1. An exaggerated tendency to consider one's own social or national group as being superior to all others and to judge outsiders by the standards of one's group as if they provided a normative model.
2. The tendency to view other cultures in terms of the values or customs of one's own culture.
3. The practice of regarding traditional, nontechnological cultures as inferior to industrialized Western cultures.
4. In health care, a perspective that supports the worldview of the caretaker, rather than considering the patient's perspective of health and illness.
eucentric (adjective), more eucentric, most eucentric
1. Someone whose behavior is consistently good in quality or performance: Jim's uncle is a very eucentric and reliable person when his help is needed.
2.A technical item that is placed centrally or is having its axis or other part placed in the middle point of a sphere.
Eucentrosaurus
A “sharp-pointed (good or true pointed) lizard” from Late Cretaceous Alberta, Canada. Named by Daniel J. Chure and John Stanton McIntosh (1923-) in 1989.
exocentric
flux concentration
The density of radiation falling on or received by a surface or body.
gastrocentral (adjective), more gastrocentral, most gastrocentral
Descriptive of the vertebrae structure that includes both the abdomen and chest areas of an animal: In her palaeontology class, Karen studied various gastrocentral organisms with the unusual bone configurations.
geocentric (adjective) (not comparable)
Referring to the solar system when it is regarded as having the Earth as its center: From a geocentric point of view, many people think of the Earth as being the center of all matter.

A geocentric theory or belief maintains that the Earth and its inhabitants are the center of existence.

A certain geocentric location of the Earth is thought to be a reference point for measurement.

geocentric coordinate system (s) (noun), geocentric coordinate systems (pl)
1. In astronomy, geocentric coordinates: A geocentric coordinate system is an arrangement of celestial coordinates located with respect to the center of the Earth.
2. In cartography, a set of map coordinates which define the position of a point with respect to the center of the Earth: In class, Mr. Smart asked the students to study the geocentric coordinate system and to measure the different geocentric distances from given points.
geocentric horizon (s) (noun), geocentric horizons (pl)
In cartography, or maps, the plane through the center of the Earth: The geocentric horizon is parallel to the topocentric (a point on the surface of the Earth) horizon:
geocentric latitude (s) (noun), geocentric latitudes (pl)
1. In astronomy, the angular distance in degrees which a celestial object lies north or south of the Earth's equator: The students in Mr. Green's class were asked to locate the geocentric latitude of the planet he assigned them.
2. In geodesy, the angle formed with the major axis of the ellipse (stretched circle with slightly longer, flatter sides) by the radius vector (magnitude and a direction) from the center of the ellipse to the given point: The geocentric latitude is the position on the Earth's surface, the angle between the place of the equator and the center of the Earth.