English Dictionary

ouroboros

/uːˈrɒbəˌrɒs/

noun

(mythology) A serpent, dragon or worm that eats its own tail, a representation of the continuous cycle of life and death. / (by extension) Anything of a circular or recursive nature.

The ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail.

意味（1）

(mythology) A serpent, dragon or worm that eats its own tail, a representation of the continuous cycle of life and death.

The alchemists were fond of picturing their opus as a circulatory process, as a circular distillation or as the uroboros, the snake biting its own tail, and they made innumerable pictures of this process.

意味（2）

(by extension) Anything of a circular or recursive nature.

The result is a statistical ouroboros: a self-reinforcing discrimination machine that amplifies social inequalities under the guise of technical neutrality.