Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An ancient Greek courtesan or concubine, especially one who was highly educated or refined.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In ancient Greece, a woman, particularly a slave or a foreigner, devoted to public or private entertainment, making a profession of flute-playing, dancing, etc., and in some cases rising to high consideration for learning, talents, and the social arts; hence, a courtezan; an avowed concubine or female paramour. At Athens only daughters of full citizens could become, under the law, wives of citizens; thus, Aspasia of Miletus, the accomplished companion of Pericles, was, as a foreigner, classed as a hetæra. Also written hetaira, plural hetairai.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Gr. Antiq.) A female paramour; a mistress, concubine, or harlot.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A mistress, especially a highly cultivated courtesan in ancient Greece.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek hetairā, feminine of hetairos, companion; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἑταίρα (hetaira), feminine of ἑταῖρος (hetairos, "companion")

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Examples

  • Roman hetaera, relief, around 2nd century — head is missing.

    Archive 2008-02-01 2008

  • Roman hetaera, relief, around 2nd century — head is missing.

    Prostitution: Story of the Oldest Profession on Earth 2008

  • Pericles' celebrated hetaera, Aspasia, came from Miletos.

    Miletos Tristesse Walter Jon Williams 2009

  • Pericles' celebrated hetaera, Aspasia, came from Miletos.

    Archive 2009-04-01 Walter Jon Williams 2009

  • The godlike Xenocrates showed this by the firmness of his reason, who was declared by the famous hetaera Phryne to be a statue and not a man, when all her blandishments could not shake his resolve, as Valerius Maximus relates at length.

    The Love of Books : The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury 2007

  • He owned a shield factory and was wealthy enough to have a hetaera, a high-class prostitute, if that's what Aspasia was.

    Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine 2005

  • You see, a friend of mine, wife of another friend and they were both close to me-as a special gift she introduced me to another hetaera, a great beauty, and arranged for me a holiday with her-paid for by my friends; they could afford it, she is wealthy.

    Time Enough For Love Heinlein, Robert A. 1973

  • I'm not speaking of technique; I suspect that any high-priced hetaera in New Rome is as skilled as any famous courtesan in history.

    Time Enough For Love Heinlein, Robert A. 1973

  • A great hetaera never proposes a contract and usually won't listen if a man is bold enough to propose one himself.

    Time Enough For Love Heinlein, Robert A. 1973

  • Not a slut, but what is a hetaera; and not a hetaera, but what is well-nigh Kypris herself!

    Yama: the pit Bernard Guilbert Guerney 1904

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