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; Ashtoreth ( def. ), Astarte ( def. ), Esther ( def. ), Ishtar ( def. )

Example Sentences

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

So I could tell you who his cognates are for Achilles, Hector, Helen of Troy, Aphrodite, Odysseus and a whole bunch of others.

From Salon • Apr. 6, 2024

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

From Seattle Times • Dec. 15, 2023

Michelangelo Pistoletto, the Arte Povera artist, places a concrete copy of the Aphrodite of Knidos in a pile of trash.

From New York Times • Apr. 20, 2023

He stared at it in the dim light—the smiling face of Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite.

From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan