Ouroboros

noun

Ou·​ro·​bo·​ros ˌyu̇r-ō-ˈbȯr-əs 

variants or ouroboros or less commonly Uroboros or uroboros

1

: a circular symbol that depicts a snake or dragon devouring its own tail and that is used especially to represent the eternal cycle of destruction and rebirth

2

usually ouroboros or less commonly uroboros : something (such as a never-ending cycle) that is likened to or suggestive of the Ouroboros symbol

Trauma is a time traveller, an ouroboros that reaches back and devours everything that came before.

—Junot Díaz

But as Hollywood continues its transformation into a reboot ouroboros of unoriginal ideas, I have a tiny bit of fear that these projects will be disasters.

—Miles Surrey

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Late Greek ourobóros "devouring (its) tail" (modifying drákōn "dragon, snake") from Greek ourá "tail" + -o- + -boros, nominal derivative from the base of bibrṓskein "to eat, eat up, devour" — more at ass entry 2, voracious

First Known Use

1921, in the meaning defined at sense 1