caryatid

American  

[kar-ee-at-id] / ˌkær iˈæt ɪd /

noun

Architecture.

• caryatids,
  plural
• caryatides
  plural

1. a sculptured female figure used as a column.

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caryatid British  

/ ˌkærɪˈætɪd /

noun

1. a column, used to support an entablature, in the form of a draped female figure Compare telamon

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• caryatidal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• caryatides
  plural
• caryatids
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of caryatid

1555–65; < Latin Caryātides (singular Caryātis ) < Greek Karyā́tides columns shaped like women, literally, women of Karýai, Laconia

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

caryatid caryatides caryatids

The single square column features crouching figures in the capital who seem to be holding up the arch, a playful evocation of the classical figure of the caryatid or herm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026

In ancient Greece, the culture where male athletes were so highly prized as heroic citizens, a caryatid was a draped female figure used instead of a column as an architectural support.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2023

Although their name was an architectural inside joke — a caryatid is a type of Greek column that is also a statue of the female likeness — their guileful display took on some serious issues.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2018

You may think that David Cameron's well-heeled colleagues would give him a marble caryatid bought from the Frieze Masters art fair for his birthday.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2012

“A caryatid wouldn’t be strong enough for Dad.”

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

It is from imperfect views of this, that the meaning and effect of caryatides have been mistaken: instead of being oppressed by weight, they seem, when well employed, to have no weight to support.

From Beauty Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classificatin of Beauty in Woman by Alexander Walker

There are two beautiful caryatides by Vittoria and rich mural work by Battista Franco and De Moro.

From Italy, the Magic Land by Lilian Whiting

Louis XIV. had gold embroidered caryatides fifteen feet high in his apartment.

From The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

They corresponded to the four gods Bacab, who in the Yucatecan mythology were supposed to stand one at each corner of the world, supporting, like gigantic caryatides, the overhanging firmament.

From The Myths of the New World A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America by Daniel Garrison Brinton

The drawing is in his best manner, the frame-border of caryatides in camaieu is of a richness of ornamentation in keeping with the rest of the volume.

From Illuminated Manuscripts by John William Bradley

A critic of the day hailed the bravura Hunt caryatids as “full of sentiment, showing a refined imagination, a scholar’s grasp of the requirements and an artist’s appreciation of fitness.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026

In it, she and Cardi B dress in Grecian goddess-inspired dresses, dance in front of classically inspired statuary, wear headdresses that evoke caryatids and transform into Grecian vases.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2021

He sat in a ostentatious Greek-style hall bedecked with four caryatids, the draped female figures used in columns — a style first seen in Delphi 2 ½ millennia ago.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 12, 2019

He called them the "caryatids of that great and marvellous epoch that was ours".

From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2016

These marble women are called caryatids, which orginally referred to the priestesses of Artemis at Caryae.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

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