Hesperus

noun

Hes·​per·​us ˈhe-sp(ə-)rəs 

: evening star sense 1

Examples of Hesperus in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The agency issued a winter storm warning early Friday morning covering the northwest and southwest San Juan Mountains, including the cities of Telluride, Ouray, Lake City, Silverton, Rico and Hesperus. — Max Levy, The Denver Post, 19 Oct. 2024

That’s on top of dozens of boots on the ground searching Hesperus Mountain on every side. — Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY, 30 June 2023

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, borrowed from Latin, borrowed from Greek hésperos "evening, the evening star, the west," going back to Indo-European *u̯e-k^(w)sp-er-os, whence also Latin vesper, vespera "evening, evening star, the west," Welsh ucher "evening, eve," Old Church Slavic večerŭ "eve, in the evening," Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian vȅčē, vȅčēr "evening," Lithuanian vãkaras, Armenian gišer; a compound based on zero-grade of a word for "night," seen with full-grade in Sanskrit kṣáp- "night," Avestan xšap-, xšapar-, with zero-grade in Hittite išpant- "night"

Note: The details of the outcomes of this etymon, as well as the meaning of its components, are not entirely clear. The complex cluster *-k^(w)sp- is resolved in various ways; Balto-Slavic apparently drops *-sp-, while Latin and Greek drop *-k^(w)-.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Hesperus

• canaris
• embarrass
• nonferrous
• phalaris
• polaris
• derris
• ferrous
• heiress
• maris
• paras
• teras
• terrace