Word.ws English Dictionary

Charon

Syllables: Char·onUK/ˈkɛəɹɒn//ˈkɛəɹən/

Charon proper noun: the ferryman of Hades, who rowed the shades of the dead across the river Styx.

charon: the ferryman of Hades, who rowed the shades of the dead across the river Styx
Image: NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Proper noun

Charon

  1. (Greek) The ferryman of Hades, who rowed the shades of the dead across the river Styx.
    • The Ghoſts rejected, are th’ unhappy Crew
      Depriv’d of Sepulchers, and Fun’ral due.
      The Boatman, Charon; thoſe, the bury’d hoſt,
      He Ferries over to the Farther Coaſt.1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 375, lines...
    • But then, what though the mystic Three
      Around me ply their merry trade? —
      And Charon soon may carry me
      Across the gloomy Stygian glade?1897, Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Ballade by the Fire”, in Children of the Night
  2. The largest of the five moons of Pluto.
    • Last week Nasa released its highest resolution photos yet of the dwarf planet and its largest moon, Charon, revealing new mysteries that its spacecraft New Horizons had uncovered at the edge of the solar system.2015 October 6, Alan Yuhas, “Images of Pluto and Charon continue to captivate Nasa: 'This world is alive'”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
    Synonyms:
    ⯕

Noun

Charon (plural Charons)

  1. (poetic) Any ferryman.

Charon meaning in Marathi, Arabic, Indonesian and Persian

Charon in Marathi

the ferryman of Hades
केरन keran
a moon of Pluto
केरन keran

Charon in Arabic

the ferryman of Hades
خَارُون ḵārūn
a moon of Pluto
شَارُون šarūn

Charon in Indonesian

the ferryman of Hades
Kharon

Charon in Persian

the ferryman of Hades
خارون
More languagesFewer languages
Charon in Thai
แครอน

Synonyms of Charon

  • ⯕

Forms of Charon

pluralCharons

Origin of Charon

From Latin Charōn, from Ancient Greek Χάρων (Khárōn). The name of the moon was coined by American astronomer James W. Christy in 1978, in reference to a fictional moon of Pluto in a novel by Edmond Hamilton but also influenced by its similarity to Char, a pet name for Charlene, his wife's name — hence the alternative American pronunciation, which is used at NASA.

Words formed from Charon

Words that rhyme with Charon

Questions about Charon

What does Charon mean?
Charon means the ferryman of Hades, who rowed the shades of the dead across the river Styx.
What is Charon in Marathi?
Charon in Marathi is केरन (keran). See Charon meaning in Marathi.
What part of speech is Charon?
Charon can be a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce Charon?
Charon is pronounced /ˈkɛəɹɒn/ (UK).

Words near Charon in the dictionary

  1. Charné
  2. Charo
  3. charoite
  4. charoites
  5. Charolais
  6. Charon
  7. Charon's obol
  8. Charon's obols
  9. Charonean
  10. Charonian
  11. Charonians

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Charon (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Charon.wav.

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