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; cf. kore

Example Sentences

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

The day will come — is it already here? — when a Kongo power figure is as familiar to a Met audiences as a Greek kouros, and “Gwandansu” helps explain what a “Madonna” means.

From New York Times • Jan. 6, 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

It’s like watching a chrysalis become a butterfly: The prototypes are impressive, but the kouros is timeless; he might be about to breathe, move, speak.

From New York Times • May 17, 2015

In the Getty’s catalogue, there is a picture of the kouros, with the notation “About 530 BC, or modern forgery.”

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell