Janus

English · Français · Deutsch · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

Janus

  • /ˈd͡ʒeɪnəs/ US, UK
  • /ˈdʒæɪ̯nəs/ Australia

Rhymes with -eɪnəs

Where it comes from

From Latin Iānus (“the Roman god Janus”).

proper noun

  1. Roman The god of doorways, gates and transitions, and of beginnings and endings, having two faces looking in opposite directions. In the ages of victory, as often as the senate decreed some distant conquest, the consul denounced hostilities, by unbarring, in solemn pomp, the gates of the temple of Janus. Domestic war now rendered the admonition superfluous, and the ceremony was superseded by the establishment of a new religion
  2. attributive Used to indicate things with two faces (such as animals with diprosopus) or aspects; or made of two different materials; or having a two-way action. Janus cat, Janus particle
  3. attributive Used to indicate an azo dye with a quaternary ammonium group, frequently with the diazo component being safranine. Janus green B is a dye used widely in histology to stain cells for microscopic examination.
  4. figuratively A two-faced person, a hypocrite. The hypocrite; or, The modern Janus.
  5. A moon of Saturn. Heavily cratered and irregularly shaped, Janus orbits Saturn just beyond the F ring and only 50km (30 miles) farther away than its co-orbital moon, Epimetheus.
  6. rare A male given name from Latin.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: jan, faced, jano, janos, janusz, llanos, ianus, juturna, diuturna, jove, jupiter, jaya, vejovis, japetus, urius, door god

Translations

Every language

name Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions

EspañolJano
한국어야누스 yanuseu
日本語ヤヌス Yanusu
中文杰纳斯
हिन्दीजेनस jenas
PortuguêsJano
FrançaisJanus
DeutschJanus
ItalianoGiano
ΕλληνικάΙανός Ianós
RomânăIanus
РусскийЯ́нус Jánus
العربيةيَانُوس yānūs
עבריתיאנוס

name moon of Saturn

EspañolJano
日本語ヤヌス Yanusu
中文土衛十 /土卫十 Tǔwèishí
PortuguêsJano
FrançaisJanus
DeutschJanus
ΕλληνικάΙανός Ianós
РусскийЯ́нус Jánus

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"Janus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/janus. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

Janus. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/janus

Chicago

"Janus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/janus.

BibTeX
@misc{janus_2026,
  title = {Janus},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/janus},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}