Persephone

American

[per-sef-uh-nee] / pərˈsɛf ə ni /

noun

Classical Mythology. Also Proserpina Proserpine a daughter of Zeus and Demeter, abducted by Pluto to be queen of Hades, but allowed to return to the surface of the earth for part of the year.
a female given name.

Persephone British

/ pəˈsɛfənɪ /

noun

Roman counterpart: Proserpina. Greek myth a daughter of Zeus and Demeter, abducted by Hades and made his wife and queen of the underworld, but allowed part of each year to leave it

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

From Demeter mourning Persephone to the harvest holidays of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, we’ve always marked time through the land.

From Salon • Oct. 7, 2025

The pattern across the jersey is inspired by a fifth-century BC vase attributed to Persephone, which depicts Ulysses and the sorceress Circe in Homer's Odyssey.

From BBC • Jul. 23, 2024

The actor and singer star enters Broadway’s “Hadestown,” the brooding 2019 Tony Award-winning musical about the underworld, which intertwines the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 20, 2023

When Persephone comes back, it is spring and summer.

From Scientific American • Sep. 28, 2023

“Like...the pretty ghost ladies who serve Persephone are good. Exploding zombies are bad.”

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023