Hetaera
//hɪˈtɪəɹə// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A highly cultivated hired female companion who would entertain upper-class male clients and might perform sex acts for them. historical
"But of course our friend is only a shallow twentieth-century reproduction of the great hetairae of the past, the type to which she belongs without knowing it, Lais, Charis and the rest..."
- 2 A mistress.
"Woman is dethroned as the primary and supreme sex, debased into inseminable hetaera."
Example
More examples"But of course our friend is only a shallow twentieth-century reproduction of the great hetairae of the past, the type to which she belongs without knowing it, Lais, Charis and the rest..."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἑταίρᾱ (hetaírā), feminine of ἑταῖρος (hetaîros, “companion”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.