deuteragonist

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The Word of the Day for January 25 is:

deuteragonist   \doo-tuh-RAG-uh-nist\   noun
     1 : the actor taking the part of second importance in a classical Greek 
drama
    *2 : a person who serves as a foil to another 

Example sentence:
     "She cut such an extraordinary figure that it was easy to overlook the 
fact that she was ... a deuteragonist rather than a main player." (Jonathan 
Meades, _The [London] Times_, September 2, 2000)

Did you know?
     In the early days of Greek drama the idea of having a dialogue between two 
characters was conceived, and the players were designated "protagonistes" and 
"deuteragonistes" -- first actor and second actor. The deuteragonist's role was 
to highlight or emphasize, by contrast, opposing traits in the protagonist's 
character. The word "agonistes" itself, though in this context meaning "actor," 
originated as a word for a person competing at games. The combining form 
"deutero-," meaning "second," also shows up in "Deuteronomy," the name of the 
fifth book of the Old Testament. Consisting of a farewell address by Moses to 
the Israelites in which he reiterates laws he had communicated to them 
previously, it is thus his "second stating" of the law.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.