Apsaras (Sanskrit: अप्सरस्, IAST: Apsaras, Pali: अच्छरा, romanized: Accharā Khmer-Cambodia: អប្សរា) are a class of celestial beings in Hindu and Buddhist culture. They were originally a type of female spirit associated with clouds and water, but, later came to play the role of a "nymph" or "fairy". They figure prominently in the sculpture, dance, literature and paintings of many Indian and Southeast Asian cultures.

The apsaras are described as being beautiful, youthful and elegant, and are said to be able to change their shape at will; making anyone fall for their beauty. There are two types of apsaras—laukika (worldly) and daivika (divine). They are said to excel at dancing, and are often considered the wives of the gandharvas, the court musicians of Indra. The apsaras reside in the palaces of the gods and entertain them by dancing to the music of the Gandharvas. The 26 apsaras of Indra's court are each said to symbolise a different facet of the performing arts, drawing comparisons to the Muses of ancient Greece. They are also renowned for seducing rishis in order to prevent them from attaining divine powers. Famous apsaras include Urvashi, Menaka, Rambha, Tilottama and Ghritachi.

In Japan, Apsara are known as "Tennin" (天人); "Tennyo" (天女) for "female Tennin" and "Tennan" (天男) for "male Tennin".

The origin of 'apsara' is the Sanskrit अप्सरस्, apsaras (in the stem form, which is the dictionary form). Note that the stem-form ends in 's' as distinct from, e.g. the nominative singular Rāmas / Rāmaḥ (the deity Ram in Hindi), whose stem form is Rāma. The nominative singular form is अप्सरास् apsarās, or अप्सरा: apsarāḥ when standing alone, which becomes अप्सरा apsarā in Hindi, from which in turn the English "apsara" presumably is derived. The Monier-Williams et al. (1899) gives the etymology as अप् + √सृ, "going in the waters or between the waters of the clouds".

Apsaras are widely known as Apsara (អប្សរា Âbsâréa) in Khmer, and also called Accharā in Pāli, or Bidadari (Malay, Maranao), Biraddali (Tausug, Sinama), Hapsari / Apsari or Widadari / Widyadari (Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese), Helloi (Meitei).

The most ancient descriptions of apsara portray them as "water nymph"-like beings.

The Rigveda tells of an apsara who is the wife of Gandharva; however, the Rigveda also seems to allow for the existence of more than one apsara. The only apsara specifically named is Urvashi. An entire hymn deals with the colloquy between Urvashi and her mortal lover Pururavas. Later Hindu scriptures allow for the existence of numerous apsaras, who act as the handmaidens of Indra or as dancers at his celestial court serving as musicians alongside the gandharvas ("celestial musicians").

The Kaushitaki Upanishad mentions apsaras as a class of divinities associated with ointments, garlands, vestments, and powdered aromatics.