Silenus
/saɪˈliːnəs/
Silenus proper noun: a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus.
Proper noun
Silenus
- A companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus.
- As a goat he [Dionysus] can hardly be separated from the minor divinities, the Pans, Satyrs, and Silenuses, all of whom are closely associated with him and are represented more or less completely in the form of goats.1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 34
- There are oranges from Florida and Tangiers, dainty maiden blush apples from New England, figs and dates from the Levant, prunes and prunelles from Italy, candied apricots from France, and the superb English hothouse grapes, more luscious than Silenus ever crushed against his palate.1903, John Corbin, An American at Oxford, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company
Origin of Silenus
Borrowed from Latin Sīlēnus, from Ancient Greek Σῑληνός (Sīlēnós). Doublet of Silvanus.
Words formed from Silenus
Questions about Silenus
- What does Silenus mean?
- Silenus means a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus.
- What part of speech is Silenus?
- Silenus is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce Silenus?
- Silenus is pronounced /saɪˈliːnəs/.
Words near Silenus in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Silenus (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:
Cite this entry: “Silenus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/silenus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.