The Collaborative International Dictionary
Chthonic \Chthon"ic\, a. [Gr. ?, ?, the earth.] Pertaining to the earth; earthy; as, chthonic religions.
[The] chthonic character of the wife of Zeus.
--Max
M["u]ller.
[1913 Webster] ||
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1882, with suffix -ic, from Greek khthonios "of the earth, in the earth," from khthon "the earth, solid surface of the earth" (mostly poetic) from PIE root *dhghem- (cognates: Greek khamai "on the ground," first element in chameleon; also Latin humus "earth, soil," humilis "low;" Lithuanian žeme, Old Church Slavonic zemlja "earth;" Sanskrit ksam- "earth" (opposed to "sky"); Old Irish du, genitive don "place," earlier "earth").
Wiktionary
a. Dwelling within or under the earth.
WordNet
Wikipedia
Chthonic (, from Greek χθόνιος khthonios , "in, under, or beneath the earth", from χθών khthōn "earth") literally means "subterranean". The translation of meaning discusses deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in Greek religion. The Greek word khthon is one of several for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land (as Gaia or Ge does), or the land as territory (as khora (χώρα) does).
Chthonic (sometimes typeset ChthoniC or ChThoniC) is a Taiwanese heavy metal band, formed in 1995 in Taipei. They have been called "the Black Sabbath of Asia." The group incorporates influences from traditional Taiwanese music including the classical Chinese instrument erhu (the band often calls it hiân-á [] in their native Taiwanese). The band's stated goal is to use their music to bring ancient history and mythology into the modern era via a pan-green focus, especially to build awareness of the myths of Taiwan and tragic events in that country's history (for example, those of the Seediq people).
Since 2011 their trademark erhu has been complemented with stringed instruments including the koto and shamisen, as well as Tibetan Bells and shakuhachi and pgaki flutes, the latter of which are traditionally used by the aboriginal people of Taiwan. The band members are also acclaimed artists and political activists who advocate independence for Taiwan and self-determination for Tibetans and Uighurs. Singer Freddy Lim served as Chairman of the Taiwan chapter of Amnesty International from 2010 to 2014 and won the Legislature seat in the 5th Electoral District of Taipei City in 2016. Since their formation, Chthonic has released eight studio albums; the most recent acoustic album, Timeless Sentence (失竊千年 ), was released in Asia in 2014 by Spinefarm Records. According to an interview, the band indicated that this will be the band's last acoustic album.
Usage examples of "chthonic".
Earth, a chthonic sound that resonated in his chest and the spaces in his skull.
No women are allowed near his Great Altar, and in memory of his journey to the Underworld no dogs are permitted in his precincts, for dogs are chthonic, and all black creatures.
Beamish repressed the chthonic natural with a rod of iron beneath his rule.
Their rages had been drained by the original chthonic angers which had built their mountains.
As a Canadian, she could tap into the ancient and chthonic wisdoms of her race.
Kargish religion was a domestic and community worship of the Old Powers, the chthonic or gaean forces manifest as spirits of place.
In the starpatterns he saw the origin: light, the ardor and selflessness of It, the chthonic journey, descanting into geometry, echoing across the shell of time as language: mesons talking atoms into being, molecular communities communicating, no end to It, only addition, time, the futureless deception, until the final addition, the mindfire of consciousness that burns through the drug of dreams and anneals the pain of living with the living pain.
No women are allowed near his Great Altar, and in memory of his journey to the Underworld no dogs are permitted in his precincts, for dogs are chthonic, and all black creatures.
It was barely brighter than a glow-worm, but single photon can do a lot of work in chthonic darkness.
Beamish repressed the chthonic natural with a rod of iron beneath his rule.
Your neck of the woods is rife with nodes of chthonic power, Telemachus.
It looked like some trapped chthonic beast struggling to escape the clutches of the bone-dry ground.
But Esauwas the rock he worked in its deep chthonic richness, in a way Malenfant perhaps could never be.
In the timeless intervals between the comets, her growth was chthonic, her patience matching that of the rocks themselves.
The snake in her right hand is the empyreal serpent, the one in her left the chthonic serpent.