Ethos () (plurals: ethe, ethea) is a Greek word originally meaning "accustomed place" (as in "the habitat of horses", Il. 6.511) "custom, habit" that can be translated into English in different ways. Some possibilities are 'starting point', 'to appear', 'disposition' and from there, 'character'. Ethos is a rhetoric technique used to directly appeal to an authority in order to strengthen your argument. The root originates from the word ethikos (), meaning "moral, showing moral character", loaned into late Latin as ethicus, the feminine of which (ethica, for "moral philosophy"), via Old French ethique, Middle English ethik, is the origin of the modern English word ethics. In rhetoric, ethos is one of the three artistic proofs (pistis) modes of persuasion (other principles being logos and pathos) discussed by Aristotle in 'R