Word.ws English Dictionary

Acheron

/ˈæ.kəɹ.ən/

Acheron proper noun: a river in the infernal regions; also, the infernal regions themselves. By some of the English poets, it was supposed to be a flaming lake or gulf.

Proper noun (1)

Acheron

  1. (Greek) A river in the infernal regions; also, the infernal regions themselves. By some of the English poets, it was supposed to be a flaming lake or gulf.
    • Ile diue into the burning lake belowe, / And pull her out of Acaron by the heeles.c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas...
    • Acheron and Phlegeton, which a subterraneous fire causes to boil, are the billows of that hell which was visited by Æneas.1807, [Germaine] de Staël Holstein, translated by D[ennis] Lawler, “[[Book XIII. Vesuvius and the plain of Naples.] Chap[ter] IV.] The extempore effusion of Corinna on the Plain of Naples.”, in...
  2. (literary) Hell.
  3. A small town in Victoria, Australia.

Proper noun (2)

Acheron

  1. A language of Sudan.

Acheron meaning in Persian

Acheron in Persian

a river
آخرون âxerun

Examples of Acheron in a sentence

  • It had five rivers—the Acheron, the Kokytos, the Lethe, the Pyriphlegethon, and the Styx.1974, C[ovington] Scott Littleton, “Hades”, in The World Book Encyclopedia, volume 9 (H), Chicago, Ill.: Field Enterprises Educational...
  • I rise from primal silence / As a storm crushing dismal shores ov Acheron2009, Behemoth, The Seed ov I:

Forms of Acheron

alternative formAsheron

Origin of Acheron

Borrowed from Latin Acherōn, from Ancient Greek Ἀχέρων (Akhérōn), probably Pre-Greek but folk-etymologically said to be from ἄχος (ákhos, “pain, distress”) + ῥέον (rhéon, “stream”).

Words formed from Acheron

Phrases with Acheron

Questions about Acheron

What does Acheron mean?
Acheron means a river in the infernal regions; also, the infernal regions themselves. By some of the English poets, it was supposed to be a flaming lake or gulf.
What is Acheron in Persian?
Acheron in Persian is آخرون (âxerun). See Acheron meaning in Persian.
How do you use Acheron in a sentence?
It had five rivers—the Acheron, the Kokytos, the Lethe, the Pyriphlegethon, and the Styx.
What part of speech is Acheron?
Acheron is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Acheron?
Acheron is pronounced /ˈæ.kəɹ.ən/.

Words near Acheron in the dictionary

  1. achenocarps
  2. Achensee
  3. acher
  4. Achern
  5. Achernar
  6. Acheron
  7. Acheron Fossae
  8. Acheronian
  9. acherontic
  10. Acherontical
  11. achers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Acheron (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Acheron1.wav.

Cite this entry: “Acheron.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/acheron. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.