paphian: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Monday, January 24, 2011 paphian \PEY-fee-uhn\, adjective: 1. Of or pertaining to love, esp. illicit physical love. 2. Of or pertaining to Paphos, an ancient city of Cyprus sacred to Aphrodite. 3. Noting or pertaining to Aphrodite or to her worship or service. The juxtaposition of Ellen's willowy beauty and high-spirited naivete and Kreton's clear desire for her illuminated perfectly the paphian difficulties that would confront a powerful telepath, were such persons to exist. -- Gene Wolfe, The best of Gene Wolfe: a definitive retrospective of his finest short fiction I think I walked through life at that time like a somnambulist; for I have since seen that I must have been piling mistake upon mistake until out of a chaos of meaningless words and smiles I had woven a paphian love temple. -- George Bernard Shaw, The Irrational Knot Paphian relates to the ancient Greek paphios, "of the Greek goddess Aphrodite." Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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