Parthenope

//pɑːrˈθɛnəpi// name

name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    One of the sirens, daughter of the god Achelous and the Muse Terpsichore. Greek
  2. 2
    Former name of Naples: a port city in southwestern Italy. historical

    "Neapolis, Naples, was situated on the W. slope of Mt. Vesuvius and on the banks of the small stream Sebethus. It was founded by the Greeks of Cumae, and was named Neapolis, "New City," in contradistinction to Palaepolis, "Old City," which had been previously established, probably on the hill of Pausilypus. The name of Parthenope appears to have originally belonged to Palaepolis, but was subsequently transferred to Neapolis."

  3. 3
    11 Parthenope, a main belt asteroid.

Example

More examples

"Neapolis, Naples, was situated on the W. slope of Mt. Vesuvius and on the banks of the small stream Sebethus. It was founded by the Greeks of Cumae, and was named Neapolis, "New City," in contradistinction to Palaepolis, "Old City," which had been previously established, probably on the hill of Pausilypus. The name of Parthenope appears to have originally belonged to Palaepolis, but was subsequently transferred to Neapolis."

Etymology

From Latin Parthenopē, from Ancient Greek Παρθενόπη (Parthenópē, from παρθένος (parthénos, “virgin, virginal”) + ὄψ (óps, “voice”)).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.