Paphian

[pey-fee-uhn]

adjective

1. of or relating to Paphos, an ancient city of Cyprus sacred to Aphrodite.

2. of or relating to love, especially illicit sexual love; erotic; wanton.

3. noting or pertaining to Aphrodite or to her worship or service.

noun

1. the Paphian, Aphrodite: so called from her cult center at Paphos.

2. (often lowercase),  a prostitute.

Paphian

/ ˈpeɪfɪən /

adjective

1. of or relating to Paphos

2. of or relating to Aphrodite

3. literary,  of sexual love

Word History and Origins

Origin of Paphian¹

1605–15; < Latin Paphi ( us ) (< Greek Páphios of Paphos, of Aphrodite) + -an

Example Sentences

In the temple of Paphian Venus were a hundred of them.

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Cupid too, in Paphian shades, His hair with rosy fillet braids, When with the blushing naked Graces, The wanton winding dance he traces.

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Him, who instructs the sons of earth To thrid the tangled dance of mirth; Him, who was nursed with infant Love, And cradled in the Paphian grove; Him, that the snowy Queen of Charms Has fondled in her twining arms.

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The Poet meets Apollo on the hill, And Pan and Flora and the Paphian Queen, And infant na�ads bathing in the rill, And dryad maids that dance upon the green, And fauns and Oreads in the silver sheen They wear in summer, when the air is still.

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He had seen this woman, white breasted like the foam, rising as the ancient goddess from the Paphian Sea.

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