goddess

See also: Goddess

English

Etymology

From Middle English goddesse, equivalent to god +‎ -ess, formed about 1350. The figurative meaning is first found in Edmund Spenser's Shepheardes calender (1579). Displaced Old English gyden.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: gŏd'ĕs, enPR: gäd'ǐs, IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒdɛs/, /-ɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑdəs/, /-ɛs/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: god‧dess

Noun

goddess (plural goddesses)

1. (religion) A female deity.
   • 2019 January 8, Christine Proust, John Steele, Scholars and Scholarship in Late Babylonian Uruk, Springer, →ISBN, page 248:

     […] since the goddess Antu did not hold a prominent status at Uruk before the fifth century. The primary purpose of MLC 1890 was evidently to present Antu as universal goddess and all-encompassing cosmic location.

2. (figuratively) A woman honored or adored as physically attractive or of superior charm and intelligence.
   • 2014, Mary Castillo, Caridad Pineiro Scordato, Berta Platas, Friday Night Chicas: Sexy Stories from La Noche, page 216:

     The girls who had tormented me in high school had fallen, hard, from their pedestals. The cheerleader goddesses were Wal-Mart moms, wearing enough eyeliner and dark shadow to supply a Goth nightclub for a month.

3. (figuratively) A woman of substantial authority or influence.

Hypernyms

• (female deity): deity, divinity, god
• (certain woman): woman

Derived terms

• bitch goddess
• demigoddess
• domestic goddess
• goddesship
• goddesshood
• goddessless
• goddesslike
• goddessling
• goddessly
• goddess-queen
• goddessship
• goddess-ship
• goddessy
• goddex
• green goddess
• Green Goddess
• mother goddess
• personal goddess
• porcelain goddess
• regal sea goddess
• sex goddess
• triple goddess
• worship the porcelain goddess

Translations

female deity

• Afrikaans: godin
• Albanian: perëndeshë (sq) f
• Arabic: إِلَاهَة f (ʔilāha), إِلٰهَة (ʔilāha)
• Armenian: աստվածուհի (hy) (astvacuhi)
• Asturian: diosa (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: ilahə
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: багі́ня (be) f (bahínja)
• Bengali: দেবী (bn) (debi)
• Bulgarian: боги́ня (bg) f (bogínja)
• Burmese: ဒေဝီ (my) (dewi)
• Carpathian Rusyn: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: deessa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 女神 (neoi⁵ san⁴)

  Hokkien: 女神 (zh-min-nan) (lú-sîn / lí-sîn)

  Mandarin: 女神 (zh) (nǚshén)

• Coptic: ⲛⲧⲱⲣⲉ (ntōre)
• Cornish: duwes f
• Crimean Tatar: mabude
• Czech: bohyně (cs) f
• Danish: gudinde (da) c
• Dutch: godin (nl) f
• Dzongkha: please add this translation if you can
• Egyptian: (nṯrt)
• Esperanto: diino (eo)
• Estonian: jumalanna
• Faroese: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: jumalatar (fi)
• French: déesse (fr) f
• Galician: deusa (gl) f
• Georgian: ქალღმერთი (kalɣmerti)
• German: Göttin (de) f, weibliche Gottheit f, weiblicher Gott m
• Greek: θεά (el) f (theá)

  Ancient: θεά f (theá)

  Ionic: θεή f (theḗ)

• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hawaiian: akua wahine
• Hebrew: אֵלָה (he) f (elá)
• Hindi: देवी (hi) f (devī)
• Hungarian: istennő (hu)
• Icelandic: gyðja (is) f, dís (is) f
• Ido: deino (io)
• Indonesian: dewi (id)
• Interlingua: dea
• Interlingue: please add this translation if you can
• Interslavic: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: bandia m
• Italian: dea (it) f
• Japanese: 女神 (ja) (めがみ, megami), 女神 (ja) (じょしん, joshin)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kashubian: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: әйел құдай (äiel qūdai)
• Khmer: ព្រះម៉ែ (prĕəh mae), ទេវី (km) (teivii), ទេពី (km) (teipii)
• Korean: 여신(女神) (ko) (yeosin), 녀신(女神) (nyeosin) (North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: îlahe (ku)

• Lao: ເທວີ (th), ສຸລາງ (su lāng), ສຸຣາງ (su rāng)
• Latgalian: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: dea (la) f, dīva (la) f
• Latvian: dieviete f, dieve f
• Lithuanian: deivė f
• Macedonian: бо́жица f (bóžica)
• Malagasy: andriamanibavy
• Malay: dewi
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Manipuri: ꯗꯦꯕꯤ (debi)
• Marathi: देवी f (devī)
• Mon: ဒေဝတဴကာလခဏ္ဏဳ
• Nahuatl:

  Classical: cihuateteo

• Norman: déêsse f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gudinne (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: gudinne f, gydje f

• Occitan: dieusa f
• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: богꙑни f (bogyni)

• Old English: gyden f
• Old Norse: dís f
• Pali: devī f
• Pannonian Rusyn: please add this translation if you can
• Pashto: الهه (ps) f (elāha)
• Persian: الٰهه (fa) (elâhe), ایزدبانو (izadbânu)
• Polish: bogini (pl) f
• Portuguese: deusa (pt) f
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: zeiță (ro) f
• Russian: боги́ня (ru) f (bogínja)
• Sami:

  Inari Sami: please add this translation if you can

  Northern Sami: please add this translation if you can

• Samogitian: please add this translation if you can
• Sanskrit: देवी (sa) f (devī), ग्ना (sa) f (gnā́)
• Scottish Gaelic: ban-dia f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бо̀гиња f, бо̀жица f

  Roman: bòginja (sh) f, bòžica (sh) f

• Sikkimese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: bohyňa (sk) f
• Slovene: bogínja (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: please add this translation if you can

  Upper Sorbian: please add this translation if you can

• Spanish: dea (es) f, diosa (es) f
• Sumerian: 𒀭 (/⁠diĝir, dingir; dimer, dimir⁠/)
• Swedish: gudinna (sv) c
• Tagalog: bathaluman, diyosa
• Tajik: олиҳа (oliha), илоҳа (iloha)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Tatar: алиһә (tt) (alihä)
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: เทวี (tee-wii)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tocharian B: ñäkteñña
• Turkish: tanrıça (tr) f, ilahe (tr) f
• Ugaritic: 𐎛𐎍𐎚 (ỉlt)
• Ukrainian: боги́ня (uk) f (bohýnja)
• Urdu: دیوی f (devī)
• Uyghur: ئىلاھە (ilahe)
• Uzbek: maʻbuda, iloha (uz)
• Vietnamese: nữ thần (vi) (女神), thiên nữ (天女)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: duwes f

adored or idealized woman

• Arabic: مَعْبُودَة f (maʕbūda)
• Catalan: deessa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 女神 (zh) (nǚshén)

• Czech: bohyně (cs) f
• Dutch: schoonheid (nl)
• Finnish: jumalatar (fi)
• French: déesse (fr) f
• Galician: deusa (gl) f
• Georgian: ქალღმერთი (kalɣmerti)
• Greek: θεά (el) f (theá)
• Hungarian: istennő (hu)
• Indonesian: dewi (id)
• Italian: diva (it) f, dea (it) f
• Khmer: ទេពធីតា (teep thiidaa)
• Latvian: dieviete f, dieve f
• Macedonian: бо́жица f (bóžica)
• Polish: bogini (pl) f
• Portuguese: deusa (pt) f
• Russian: боги́ня (ru) f (bogínja)
• Scottish Gaelic: ban-dia f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бо̀гиња f

  Latin: bòginja (sh) f

• Slovak: bohyňa (sk) f
• Slovene: boginja (sl) f
• Swedish: gudinna (sv) c
• Turkish: tanrıça (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} istennő (hu) f
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} dewi (id)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} dea (it) f
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} dea (la) f
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} zeiță (ro) f

See also

• heaven