hetaira
hetaira is the alternative form of hetaera.
Meaning of hetaera
Noun
hetaera (plural hetaerae or hetaeras)
- A highly cultivated hired female companion who would entertain upper-class male clients and might perform sex acts for them.
- But of course our friend is only a shallow twentieth-century reproduction of the great hetairae of the past, the type to which she belongs without knowing it, Lais, Charis and the rest...1957, Lawrence Durrell, Justine
- A mistress.
- Woman is dethroned as the primary and supreme sex, debased into inseminable hetaera.1971, Gottfried Benn, E. B. Ashton, Primal vision: selected writings
Forms of hetaira
| plural | hetairai |
|---|---|
| plural | hetairas |
Origin of hetaira
From Ancient Greek ἑταίρᾱ (hetaírā), feminine of ἑταῖρος (hetaîros, “companion”).
Questions about hetaira
- What is hetaira the alternative form of?
- Hetaira is the alternative form of hetaera.
Words near hetaira in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hetaira (page history and authors); hetaera (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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Cite this entry: “hetaira.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hetaira. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.