Styx

English

Alternative forms

• Stix

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Στύξ (Stúx).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɪks/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪks
• Homophone: sticks

Proper noun

Styx

1. (with or without the, Greek mythology) The river, in Hades, over which the souls of the dead are ferried by Charon.

   Coordinate terms: Acheron, Cocytus, Eridanus, Lethe, Phlegethon

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 13:

     A bold bad man, that dar'd to call by name / Great Gorgon, prince of darknes and dead night, / At which Cocytus quakes and Styx is put to flight.

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter IV, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (States-General):

     For two-and-twenty years he [Doctor Guillotin], unguillotined, shall hear nothing but guillotine, see nothing but guillotine; then dying, shall through long centuries wander, as it were, a disconsolate ghost, on the wrong side of Styx and Lethe; his name like to outlive Cæsar’s.

   • 1955 September 15, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 23, in Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, page 252:

     One mercifully hopes there are water nymphs in the Styx.

   • 1974, C[ovington] Scott Littleton, “Hades”, in The World Book Encyclopedia, volume 9 (H), Chicago, Ill.: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, →ISBN, page 4, column 2:

     The Styx was the best-known river in Hades. […] Hades’ house stood on the shore of the Styx.

   • 2014, “O Father O Satan O Sun!”, performed by Behemoth:

     Bornless one / As darkness bright / Found not in tongues / Found not in light / Bring down the rain / Drain waters of Styx / Faustian luminary / Redeem blaspheme / Like a day without the dawn / Like a ray void of the sun / Like a storm that brings no calm / I'm most complete yet so undone

2. (astronomy) The 5th moon of Pluto, discovered in 2012.

   Coordinate terms: Charon, Nix, Kerberos, Hydra

3. A locality in the Derwent Valley council area, south eastern Tasmania, Australia.

Derived terms

• cross the Styx
• Styxian

Related terms

• stygian
• Stygian

Translations

river of the underworld

• Bulgarian: Стикс (Stiks)
• Catalan: Estix f, Estígia f
• Czech: Styx m inan or f
• Danish: Styx
• Dutch: Styx
• Esperanto: Stikso (eo)
• Estonian: Styx (et)
• Finnish: Styks
• French: Styx (fr) m
• German: Styx (de) m
• Greek: Στυξ (el) f (Styx), Στύγα (el) f (Stýga)

  Ancient Greek: Στύξ f (Stúx)

• Hebrew: סטיקס (stiks)
• Hungarian: Sztüx
• Icelandic: Styx
• Italian: Stige
• Japanese: ステュクス (ja) (Sutyukusu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Stîks m

• Latin: Styx f
• Lithuanian: Stiksas
• Luxembourgish: Styx
• Marathi: स्टिक्स (sṭiksa)
• Norwegian: Styx
• Persian: استیکس (fa) (estiks), استوکس (estuks)
• Polish: Styks (pl) m
• Portuguese: Estige m
• Romanian: Styx
• Russian: Стикс (ru) (Stiks)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Стикс

  Latin: Stiks (sh)

• Slovak: Styx
• Slovene: Stiks
• Spanish: Estigia f, Estix f, Estige f
• Swedish: Styx (sv)
• Turkish: Stiks
• Ukrainian: Стікс (Stiks)
• Vietnamese: Styx

one of Pluto's moons

• Catalan: Estix
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冥衛五 / 冥卫五

• Czech: Styx m inan
• Japanese: ステュクス (ja) (Sutyukusu)
• Marathi: स्टिक्स (sṭiksa)
• Swedish: Styx (sv)

See also

• (moons of Pluto) Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, Hydra

Anagrams

• xyst

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Στύξ (Stúx).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈstɪks]
• Rhymes: -ɪks

Proper noun

Styx m inan

2. (Greek mythology) Styx, the river in Hades, over which the souls of the dead are ferried by Charon
   • 1906, Vladislav Kalousek, “Styx”, in Ottův slovník naučný‎^[2], volume XXIV, Praha: J. Otto, page 315:

     V podsvětí pak ze Stygy opět vyvěrá Kókytos.

     The Kokytos issues from the Styx in the Underworld.

4. (astronomy) Styx, a moon of Pluto [since 2013]
   • 2015 June 4, “Pluto a jeho měsíce jsou tak trochu splašená mini soustava”, in Česká televize‎^[3], archived from the original on 26 October 2026:

     Nix, Hydra a podle přesvědčení vědců i Kerberos a Styx mají navíc spíš oválný než kulatý tvar, což ještě víc přispívá k jejich nepředvídatelným oběžným drahám.

     The shape of Nix, Hydra and, as scientists are convinced, also Kerberos and Styx is more oval than round, which contributes to unpredictibility of their orbits even more.

Declension

Declension of Styx (sg-only velar masculine inanimate // hard masculine inanimate irreg-stem)

	singular
nominative	Styx
genitive	Stygu, Styxu
dative	Stygu, Styxu
accusative	Styx
vocative	Stygu, Styxe
locative	Stygu, Styxu
instrumental	Stygem, Styxem

Proper noun

Styx f

1. (Greek mythology) Styx, the goddess of the river Styx in Hades
   • 1906, Vladislav Kalousek, “Styx”, in Ottův slovník naučný‎^[4], volume XXIV, Praha: J. Otto, page 315:

     […] děti její stále obklopují trůn Zévův a Styx stala se bohyní božské přísahy.

     […] her children keep surrounding the Zeus's throne and Styx became the goddess of the divine oath.

Usage notes

• The grammatical gender of Styx in the sense of the mythological river can be both masculine and feminine, but the feminine seems obsolete. Current grammar manuals suggest only masculine. (The feminine gender was proposed e. g. in a textbook for secondary schools by M. Blažek in 1877.) However, when speaking about the goddess of the river, the feminine gender has to be used.

Declension

Declension of Styx (sg-only hard feminine irreg-stem)

	singular
nominative	Styx
genitive	Stygy
dative	Styze
accusative	Stygu
vocative	Stygo
locative	Styze
instrumental	Stygou

Derived terms

• stygický
• styxský
• styžský

See also

Solar System in Czech · sluneční soustava (layout · text)
Star	Slunce
IAU planets and notable dwarf planets	Merkur	Venuše	Země	Mars	Ceres	Jupiter	Saturn	Uran	Neptun	Pluto	Eris
Notable moons	—	—	Měsíc	Phobos/Fobos Deimos	—	Io Europa Ganymed Callisto	Mimas Enceladus Tethys Dione Rhea Titan Iapetus	Miranda Ariel Umbriel Titania Oberon	Triton	Charon	Dysnomia

Further reading

• “Styx”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
• “Styx”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Στύξ (Stúx).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stiks/

Proper noun

Styx m or f

1. (Greek mythology) Styx

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Στύξ (Stúx).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stʏks/, /ʃtʏks/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Homophone: Stücks

Proper noun

Styx m (proper noun, strong, genitive Styx)

1. (Greek mythology) Styx

Declension

Declension of Styx [sg-only, masculine, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Styx
genitive	eines	des	Styx
dative	einem	dem	Styx
accusative	einen	den	Styx

Further reading

• Styx on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Στύξ (Stúx).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈstyks]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈstiks]

Proper noun

Styx f sg (genitive Stygis or Stygos); third declension

1. The river Styx

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant or non-Greek-type), singular only.

	singular
nominative	Styx
genitive	Stygos Stygis
dative	Stygī
accusative	Styga Stygem
ablative	Styge
vocative	Styx

References

• “Styx”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Styx”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Turkish

Proper noun

Styx

1. (Greek mythology) alternative spelling of Stiks
2. (astronomy) Styx