Home › Glossary › Letter G

Graces

Mythology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The Charites: three Greek goddesses (Aglaea, Euphrosyne, Thalia) embodying charm, beauty, creativity, and social grace.

Detailed Definition
The Graces (Charites)—Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia—embody joy, elegance, and social grace, often accompanying Aphrodite. They represent the pleasures of life and harmonious interaction. In poetry, the Graces symbolize aesthetic delight, generosity, and the civilizing influence of beauty.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Hesiod’s "Theogony," the Graces (Charites) embody beauty, charm, and creativity; In Sappho’s fragments, the Graces bless poetic gatherings; In John Keats’s “Endymion,” the Graces dance as symbols of aesthetic harmony; In Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound,” the Graces represent restored joy after tyranny; In W.B. Yeats’s “The Song of Wandering Aengus,” the Graces echo in golden transformations; In modern poetry, the Graces often signify collaborative artistic inspiration.
Additional Notes
Graces (Charites in Greek), goddesses of charm, beauty, and creativity, embody the social and aesthetic virtues that enhance life; poets invoke them as muses of dance, festivity, and reciprocal joy—Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia appear in odes and epithalamia to bless occasions with harmony, often linked to Aphrodite and the arts.
Also Known As
Charites Triad of Beauty Muses of Grace and Joy favours
Skip to main content