Charon
//ˈkɛəɹən// name, noun
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any ferryman. poetic
- 2 (Greek mythology) the ferryman who brought the souls of the dead across the river Styx or the river Acheron to Hades wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 The ferryman of Hades, who rowed the shades of the dead across the river Styx. Greek
- 2 The largest of the five moons of Pluto.
Example
More examples"Centuries later, there were "lighthouse" outposts as far as Pluto and its moon Charon."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek Χάρων (Khárōn). The name of the moon was coined by American astronomer James W. Christy in 1978, in reference to a fictional moon of Pluto in a novel by Edmond Hamilton but also influenced by its similarity to Char, a pet name for Charlene, his wife's name — hence the alternative American pronunciation, which is used at NASA.
Related phrases
More for "charon"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.