We all love a story about huge, winged monsters that breathe fire and can pretty much cook anything in their path. But most of us are glad that dragons only exist in stories!

For the Greeks, though, dragons were very real. Take a guess as to which creature they called a drakon:

A. A slithering hissing serpent

B. A giant sea-monster

C. A dragonfly

ANSWER: A!

In ancient Greece, a drakon was a snake, or indeed any creature that seemed to look at them in a deadly way and make them shiver and shudder in fright. In English, the word became ‘dragon’, and in our minds the creature became much bigger too, with wings and the ability to breathe fire. A little imagination goes a long way!

That huge sea-monster in answer B, by the way, was called a ‘drake’ — have you ever heard of the game ‘drakes and dragons’? That’s where it comes from.

Oh, and dragonflies got their name because of their long body, powerful wings, and bulging eyes. Ooh-er!