Drome - Running & Racing, Of Course

A Running Boy (1802) by Jens Juel
(because, apparently, this is how people ran in the 19th century)

-DROME

Suffix.

[Representative of Greek dromos course, running, avenue, related to dramein run.]

Forming nouns denoting:

(a) a place for running, a course, etc

(b) a thing that runs

There's nothing too spectacular about the suffix -drome, which makes rather predictable appearances in words like aerodrome and hippodrome (which, to my crushing disappointment as a child, is not a course for racing hippos). It does, however, pop up in a few odd and interesting places, including syndrome, from sun- (together) and dramein (to run), literally 'a running of symptoms together'. It's also the suffix in palindrome, a word like 'nun' which reads the same backwards and forwards, constructed from palin (again) and dramein (to run), so literally 'a running again'. And it's the prefix in dromomania, which is an irresistible urge to run, travel or wander.

A rather one-sided, under-supported race at the Jerash Hippodrome in Jordan
(photo by Bernard Gagnon)

Do you know any other interesting -drome words?

Are you a dromomaniac?

Do please leave your raciest comments in the box below.