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.

---

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.

---

Isis ¹ British  

/ ˈaɪsɪs /

noun

1. the local name for the River Thames at Oxford

---

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

---

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

Low population levels also make monarchs more vulnerable to short-term stress and long-term pressures, said Isis Howard, a conservation biologist with the Xerces Society.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026

Isis Wu, its president of global residential fire & safety, adds, "In the case of a fire, it'll send you an alert and it'll ask you to confirm before you call out the fire department."

From BBC • Jan. 15, 2026

He broke ties with al Qaeda in 2016 and later fought against Isis.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 20, 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

As she and the other types were about to get dressed, Isis asked if she could switch rooms with Cora.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead