koro

American  

[kawr-oh, kohr-oh] / ˈkɔr oʊ, ˈkoʊr oʊ /

noun

Psychiatry.

1. a culture-specific syndrome, occurring chiefly in China and southeastern Asia, characterized by anxiety and the fear of retraction of the penis or breasts and labia into the body.

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koro British  

/ ˈkɒrɒ /

noun

1. 1. an elderly Māori man

   2. a title of respect for an elderly Māori man

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Etymology

Origin of koro

< dialectal Malay (Kedah) kɔrɔ land turtle (standard Malay kura-kura

Example Sentences

This is known in the medical literatures as koro, or “genital retraction syndrome,” and versions of it have been recorded, among other places, in China, Thailand, and India.

From Slate • Nov. 28, 2016

It’s no coincidence that in almost every recorded case of koro, the victim already knew of the condition, so was primed to detect it.

From The Guardian • May 13, 2016

Sporadic reports of koro, as it came to be known, recurred over the years, and during the late twentieth century the panics proliferated.

From Slate • Oct. 6, 2012

Perhaps the best-known culture-bound syndrome is koro, in which the patient is convinced that protruding bodily organs, such as the male genitalia or female nipples, are retracting or disappearing into his or her body.

From Slate • Jul. 11, 2011

The black, called baatoo, is sold to the Chinese for forty dollars the picol; the white, or gray, called koro, is worth no more than twenty.

From Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 1 by King, Phillip Parker