Arete (Greek: ἀρετή; pronounced /ˈ\xe6rəteɪ/ in English), in its basic sense, means goodness, excellence, or virtue of any kind. In its earliest appearance in Greek, this notion of excellence was ultimately bound up with the notion of the fulfillment of purpose or function: the act of living up to one's full potential.

Sometimes translated as "virtue", the word actually means something closer to "being the best you can be", or "reaching your highest human potential".

The Ancient Greeks applied the term to anything: for example, the excellence of a chimney, the excellence of a bull to be bred and the excellence of a man. The meaning of the word changes depending on what it describes, since everything has its own peculiar excellence; the arete of a man is different from the arete of a horse.