stygian

From Latin stygius, from Ancient Greek Στύγιος (Stúgios, “relating to Styx”), from Στύξ (Stúx, “Styx, chief river of underworld”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈstɪd͡ʒ.i.ən/

• Audio (US):

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stygian (comparative more stygian, superlative most stygian)

1. Alternative form of Stygian (“of or relating to the river Styx”).
2. (literary) Dark and gloomy.
   • 1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., September 1918, →OCLC, page 184:

     The things which the Stygian darkness hid from my objective eye […]

3. (literary) Infernal or hellish.
4. (vision, of a perceived color) Having a luminosity below 0%.

• See also Stygian, which means "of, by or relating to the river Styx".

(color):

• chimerical

(color):

• hyperbolic
• self-luminous

• staying