Adonis

noun

Ado·​nis ə-ˈdä-nəs  -ˈdō- 

1

: a youth loved by Aphrodite who is killed at hunting by a wild boar and restored to Aphrodite from Hades for a part of each year

2

: a very handsome young man

Did you know?

Adonis, like Narcissus, was a beautiful youth in Greek mythology. He was loved by both Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, and Persephone, goddess of the underworld. One day while hunting, he was killed by a wild boar. In answer to Aphrodite's pleas, Zeus allowed him to spend half the year with her and half in the underworld. Today a man called an Adonis probably has strikingly fine features, low body fat, rippling muscles—and a certain vain attitude of overconfidence. Adonises should beware; the boar that killed Adonis was sent by either the jealous Artemis (goddess of hunting) or the envious Ares (god of war).

Word History

Etymology

Latin, from Greek Adōnis

First Known Use

1565, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

adonis

noun

ado·​nis ə-ˈdän-əs  -ˈdō-nəs 

1

capitalized : a small genus of herbs of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) having alternate finely dissected leaves and solitary red or yellow flowers

2

: the herbage of a plant of the genus Adonis (A. vernalis) formerly used like digitalis to treat dropsy