Q 01/05

'Dragon' entered English in the 13th century via Old French from a Latin word meaning what?

A) Fire-breather

B) Guardian

C) Winged lizard

D) Huge serpent

Answer · why

D) Huge serpent

Latin draco meant 'huge serpent'; the word reached English around 1220 through Old French, and its Greek root drakon is thought to derive from a verb ...

Q 02/05

Which hero sowed a dragon's teeth to raise the first warriors of Thebes?

A) Cadmus

B) Jason

C) Perseus

D) Theseus

Answer · why

A) Cadmus

Cadmus slew the dragon guarding a spring near the future Thebes and sowed its teeth; armed men called the Spartoi sprang from the ground and became th...

Q 03/05

Chinese dragons were traditionally thought to govern what?

A) Fire and volcanoes

B) Gold and treasure

C) War and thunder

D) Rain, the sea and other water

Answer · why

D) Rain, the sea and other water

Chinese dragons ruled rain, the sea and other water: farmers prayed to them for rainfall, and the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas each governed an ocean...

Q 04/05

Under the Ming and Qing dynasties, a dragon with how many claws was reserved strictly for the emperor?

A) Three

B) Four

C) Five

D) Six

Answer · why

C) Five

The five-clawed dragon was reserved for the emperor under the Ming and Qing; princes and high nobles were limited to four-clawed dragons, lesser offic...

Q 05/05

Per the Han scholar Wang Fu, a Chinese dragon's scales resemble those of which animal?

A) A snake

B) A pangolin

C) A crocodile

D) A carp

Answer · why

D) A carp

Wang Fu's nine resemblances give the dragon the scales of a carp, plus a stag's antlers, a camel's head, a demon's eyes, an eagle's claws, a tiger's s...