kouros

American  

[koor-os] / ˈkʊər ɒs /

noun

Greek Antiquity.

kouroi plural

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

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• kouroi
  plural

Etymology

Origin of kouros

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

The artifacts included a sculpture of a young man from about 560 B.C., known as a kouros, that is worth $14 million, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

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

He looked at it as something he could protect and control and educate—and when he caught his first glimpse of the kouros, Hoving was ready.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell