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Oct 17, 2014
This week's theme
Words from mythology

This week's words
odyssey
cimmerian
narcissist
atlas
charon

Charon and Psyche
Charon collecting the fare in this 1883 painting Charon and Psyche
Art: John Roddam Spencer Stanhope

This week's comments
AWADmail 642

Next week's theme
Words formed by metathesis
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

charon

PRONUNCIATION:
(KER-uhn)

MEANING:
noun: A ferryman.

ETYMOLOGY:
After Charon, the old man who transported the souls of the dead across the rivers Styx and Acheron to Hades. In some cultures a coin was put in the mouth of the dead to pay for the ferry ride. Also see psychopomp. Earliest documented use: 1522.

USAGE:
"On the Ganges, a charon pulled me soundlessly across the water."
Pico Iyer; Maximum India; Condé Nast Traveler; Jan, 2011.

See more usage examples of charon in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value. -Arthur Miller, playwright and essayist (1915-2005)

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