Aphrodite

American  

[af-ruh-dahy-tee] / ˌæf rəˈdaɪ ti /

noun

1. the ancient Greek goddess of love and beauty, identified by the Romans with Venus.

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Aphrodite British  

/ ˌæfrəˈdaɪtɪ /

noun

1. Also called: Cytherea. Roman counterpart: Venus. Greek myth the goddess of love and beauty, daughter of Zeus

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Aphrodite Cultural  

1. The Greek and Roman goddess of love and beauty; the mother of Eros and Aeneas. In what may have been the first beauty contest, Paris awarded her the prize (the apple of discord), choosing her over Hera and Athena as the most beautiful goddess (see Judgment of Paris). She was thought to have been born out of the foam of the sea and is thus often pictured rising from the water, notably in The Birth of Venus, by Botticelli.

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Etymology

Origin of Aphrodite

First recorded in 1650–60; from Greek Aphrodī́tē, incorrectly etymologized by the Greeks, e.g., the poet Hesiod (8th century b.c.), to mean “risen from the sea foam” (aphrós), but who correctly believed her to have come from the Levant and associated her especially with the island of Cyprus; probably from Phoenician ʿAshtart (i.e., Astarte), influenced by Greek aphrós; from the Common Semitic root ʿṯtr, used to form personal names of the morning and evening stars; cf. Ashtoreth ( def. ), Astarte ( def. ), Esther ( def. ), Ishtar ( def. )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Aphrodite

American major Chevron is in talks to progress the Aphrodite gas project offshore Cyprus, which it co-owns with Israel’s NewMed Energy and Britain’s Shell.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

Oh-so-many millennia ago, the Palos Verdes Peninsula arose like Aphrodite, beautiful and dripping wet, from the sea.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2024

The works include a Roman-era headless marble statue of Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 15, 2023

The all-female group have been named Artemis, Athena and Aphrodite, after the Greek goddesses of wild animals, wisdom and love.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2023

In the Iliad Hector is nobler by far than any of the heavenly beings, and Andromache infinitely to be preferred to Athena or Aphrodite.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

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