Isis

¹ American  

[ahy-sis] / ˈaɪ sɪs /

noun

Egyptian Religion.

1. a goddess of fertility, the sister and wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, and usually represented as a woman with a cow's horns with the solar disk between them: later worshiped in the Greek and Roman empires.

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ISIS ² American  

[ahy-sis] / ˈaɪ sɪs /

noun

1. Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria): a radical Sunni Muslim organization whose aim is to restore an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the region encompassing Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, and southeastern Turkey.

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Isis ¹ British  

/ ˈaɪsɪs /

noun

1. the local name for the River Thames at Oxford

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Isis ² British  

/ ˈaɪsɪs /

noun

1. an ancient Egyptian fertility goddess, depicted as a woman with a cow's horns, between which was the disc of the sun; wife and sister of Osiris

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Etymology

Origin of Isis¹

< Latin < Greek Îsis < Egyptian 'st

Origin of ISIS²

First recorded in 2010–15; from Arabic al-Sham, an ancient territory known in English as the Levant, an area on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean

Example Sentences

With US military support, the SDF drove Isis from much of northeastern Syria and went on to govern both Kurdish and Arab-majority areas.

From BBC • Jan. 18, 2026

The major rediscovery, and the title subject of the documentary, is the Temple of Isis that sat upon the island of Antirhodos, itself residing in a soggy grave.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 14, 2025

All the fixtures and artwork are donated, including bookshelves, massive mirrors and a bust of the Egyptian goddess Isis as well as a replica of the Titanic above the used fiction section.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 1, 2025

Carbona remade BioLife into AveXis: Av for adeno-associated virus serotype 9, the engine of Kaspar’s drug; ve for vector; X for the DNA helix; and Is for Isis, the goddess of children, nature and magic.

From Salon • Feb. 19, 2025

April told everyone to wait just inside the fence while she tiptoed forward and lit the cone of incense on the altar of Set and the two candles that stood before the goddess Isis.

From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder