The Greek goddesses of destiny. In Greek mythology, the three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, often depicted as women of advanced years spinning, were believed to decree the events in and duration of someone’s life. The Greeks believed that Clotho spun the thread that represented a person’s life, Lachesis decided the extent (or length) of it, and Atropos was the one who cut it at the determined span of time.

Etymology: from Greek, "inflexible"; literally, "not to be turned away"; from a-, "not" + stem of trepein, "to turn" and related to trope. "a turning".