Cytherean

English

Alternative forms
  • Cytherian
  • also attested with an initial minuscule c

Etymology

From Cythera, from Ancient Greek Κύθηρα (Kúthēra) + -an.

Adjective

Cytherean (not comparable)

  1. (uncommon) Of or pertaining to Cythera, an island now part of Greece, at which the goddess Aphrodite came ashore on a seashell according to Greek mythology. Thus, referring to the goddesses Aphrodite or Venus.
  2. (uncommon) Of or pertaining to the planet Venus; Venusian.
    • 1893, Agnes M. Clerke, A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century, page 314
      This view, that we see only a Cytherean cloud-canopy, has been confirmed by M. Landerer's observation of the non-polarised character of the light reflected by the crescent Venus; [...]
    • 1898, E. M. Antoniadi, Notes on the Rotation Period of Venus, in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 63, page 319
      But we should hesitate in assuming that the cytherean skies are usually overcast, for the reason that if the greater heat stimulates evaporation, the converse process of precipitation would be slackened for the same reason.
    • 1989, Jay M. Pasachoff, Astronomy, from the earth to the universe, edition 5, page 171
      long before we landed spacecraft on Venus scientists deduced the temperature of the cytherean surface by studying Venus's radio emission.
    • 1991, Kenneth R. Lang & Charles Allen Whitney, Wanderers in space: exploration and discovery in the solar system, page 78:
      In fact, Soviet astronomers once thought that the thick, dense Cytherean atmosphere might not let any sunlight reach the surface.
  3. (rare) Venereal.
    • 1773, unknown, An Historical Account of All the Voyages Round the World Performed by English Navigators, page 253
      [...] he took every precaution that the venereal diſorder ſhould not be communicated to theſe happy, unoffending people; but it appears [...] that ſome ungenerous Frenchman was baſe enough to plant this dreadful malady, in a country where [...] it is more likely to ſpread than in any other part of the world, on account of the extreme attachment of the inhabitants to the Cytherean ſports.

Further reading
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