- eureka
- c.1600, from Gk. heureka "I have found (it)," first pers. sing. perfect active indicative of heuriskein "to find." Supposedly shouted by Archimedes (c.287-212 B.C.E.) when he solved a problem that had been set to him: determining whether goldsmiths had adulterated the metal in the crown of Hiero II, king of Syracuse.