Penates

Or pe·na·tes

[puh-ney-teez, -nah-]

plural noun

Roman Religion.

1. gods who watched over the home or community to which they belonged: originally, two deities of the storeroom.

penates

/ pəˈnɑːtiːz /

plural noun

1. See lares and penates

Word History and Origins

Origin of penates¹

1505–15; < Latin Penātēs, akin to penus stock of provisions

Word History and Origins

Origin of penates¹

Latin

Example Sentences

There were also public Lares and Penates, who did for the city what the others did for the family.

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The most prominent and revered of them all were the Lares and Penates.

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Every Roman family had a Lar, who was the spirit of an ancestor, and several Penates, gods of the hearth and guardians of the storehouse.

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Starting with the mid-19th-century former rectory in which he lives, he introduces us to a universe of fact, anecdote, history and whimsy spun out of the lares and penates around him.

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The Penates are one of a growing number of mixed-status families that have been affected by the record number of deportations in recent years.

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