Penates

//pəˈnɑtiz// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The household deities thought to watch over the houses and storerooms of ancient Rome. Roman, plural, plural-only

    "lest the name thereof being discovered unto their enemies, their Penates and Patronal Gods might be called forth by charms and incantations."

  2. 2
    Synonym of household deities in other contexts. figuratively, plural, plural-only

    "...and a china shepherd and shepherdess, clothed in "a green and yellow melancholy," were the penates of the mantel-piece."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    plural of Penate form-of, plural

Synonyms

All synonyms
ancestral spiritsangelattendant godlingcontroldaemondemon

Example

More examples

"I am the pious Aeneas; I carry in my fleet the Trojan Penates rescued from the enemy; my name is proclaimed everywhere and has even reached the stars."

Etymology

From Latin penātēs, from penus (“inner part of house”).

Related phrases

lares and penateshousehold deitieswatch over

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