Amazon [LME] In Greek legend the Amazons were a race of female warriors who were supposed to exist in the unexplored regions of the north. The word Amazon is Greek for ‘without a breast’, referring to the story that the women cut off their right breasts in order to draw their bows more easily. Since the mid 18th century an Amazon can be a tall, strong, or athletic woman. The River Amazon was given its name by European explorers because of stories that a race of female warriors lived on its banks.