Erinyes
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 (classical mythology) the hideous snake-haired monsters (usually three in number) who pursued unpunished criminals wordnet
- 1 The Furies; the goddesses of vengeance against serious moral offence (such as oath-breaking), latterly known as protectors of Athens, of pre-Olympian origin and variously described as having sprung from the spilled blood of Uranus or as daughters of Nyx; identified with the Roman Dirae. Greek
"In six of the twelve Homeric passages in which Erinys or the Erinyes are mentioned, the common denominator is a crime or insult that occurs between blood kin: The Erinyes take action when a son steals his father's concubine, a son kills his father and marries his mother, two brothers argue, a son angers his mother, a man kills his mother's brother, or a son chases his mother out of her home."
Example
More examples"In six of the twelve Homeric passages in which Erinys or the Erinyes are mentioned, the common denominator is a crime or insult that occurs between blood kin: The Erinyes take action when a son steals his father's concubine, a son kills his father and marries his mother, two brothers argue, a son angers his mother, a man kills his mother's brother, or a son chases his mother out of her home."
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἐρῑνύες (Erīnúes, literally “Avengers”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.