kouros

American  

[koor-os] / ˈkʊər ɒs /

noun

Greek Antiquity.

plural

kouroi

1. a sculptured representation of a young man, especially one produced prior to the 5th century b.c.

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Etymology

Origin of kouros

1915–20; < Greek koûros, dialectal variant of kóros boy; kore

Example Sentences

But the most distinctive of the 55 antiquities returned to Greece by the Manhattan district attorney’s office this week was a 2,500-year-old sculpture of an athletic youth, known as a kouros, valued at $14 million.

From New York Times • Feb. 24, 2022

According to prosecutors, Steinhardt purchased the kouros statue from dealer Robert Hecht in November 2000 for $2.3 million.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 23, 2022

Sometimes I’m doing paintings and I could be doing anything, but it still looks like a kouros.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 27, 2021

There are true glam items — an apparitionally perfect marble kouros; a cup attributed to the great Penthesilea Painter — but also homely ones: pottery shards with inscriptions, that kind of thing.

From New York Times • Mar. 23, 2017

“When I saw the kouros for the first time,” he said, “I felt as though there was a glass between me and the work.”

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell