A.Word.A.Day --charon

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Oct 17, 2014

This week's theme
Words from mythology

This week's words
odyssey
cimmerian
narcissist
atlas
charon

Charon collecting the fare in this 1883 painting Charon and Psyche

Art: John Roddam Spencer Stanhope

This week's comments
AWADmail 642

Next week's theme
Words formed by metathesis

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

charon

PRONUNCIATION:

(KER-uhn)

MEANING:

noun: A ferryman.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Charon, the old man who transported the souls of the dead across the rivers Styx and Acheron to Hades. In some cultures a coin was put in the mouth of the dead to pay for the ferry ride. Also see psychopomp. Earliest documented use: 1522.

USAGE:

"On the Ganges, a charon pulled me soundlessly across the water."
Pico Iyer; Maximum India; Condé Nast Traveler; Jan, 2011.

See more usage examples of charon in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value. -Arthur Miller, playwright and essayist (1915-2005)

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