kore

K5O1R1E1
UK/ˈkɔːɹeɪ/US/ˈkoɹeɪ/US/ˈkoʊɹeɪ/US/ˈkoɹi/

noun

An Ancient Greek statue of a woman, portrayed standing, usually clothed, painted in bright colours and having an elaborate hairstyle.

Less commonScrabble 8

Meanings

kore1

nounkore (plural korai)

plural korai

  1. sculptureartAn Ancient Greek statue of a woman, portrayed standing, usually clothed, painted in bright colours and having an elaborate hairstyle.

    Inscribed dedications often took the form of korai (singular: kore): statues, usually life-size or larger of female figures, generally goddesses.

    2002, Matthew Dillon, Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion, page 9
    2 more examples

    Mus. No 685: Archaic kore of island marble (500-490 B. C.) 4 ft high. Attic work. This kore is not wearing the Ionian smile, but a look of solemn gravity. She does not gather up her robes with the left hand like the other kores,[…].

    1966, Spyros Meletzēs, Helenē A. Papadakē, Akropolis and Museum, page 42

    Ducat believes that all the kore plastic vessels wearing transverse himatia ending in stepped folds over the abdomen originate in Rhodes (1966: 72).

    1995, Irene Bald Romano, University of Pennsylvania Museum, The Terracotta Figurines and Related Vessels, page 14

Kore2

proper noun

alternative Core

  1. Greekhuman sciencesThe birth name of Persephone/Proserpina, the queen of the Underworld/Hades, and goddess of the seasons and of vegetation. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter; and the wife of Hades.
  2. astronomyA moon of Jupiter.
  3. rareA female given name from Ancient Greek.
  4. rareA surname.

Kore3

nounKore pl (plural only)
  1. pluralplural onlyA people living on Lamu Island on the northern Kenyan coast.

Origin

kore · noun

  1. Ancient Greekκόρη“girl, maiden”
  2. Englishkore

From Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl, maiden”).

Full word history & related roots →

Kore · proper noun

  1. Ancient Greekκόρη“girl, maiden, daughter”
  2. EnglishKore

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl, maiden, daughter”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan cora
  • corasculpture
Czech koré
  • korésculpture
Finnish kore-veistos, kore
  • kore-veistossculpture
  • koresculpture
French coré
  • corésculpture
German Kore
  • Koresculpture
Greek κόρη
  • κόρη (kóri)sculpture
Japanese コレー
  • コレー (korē)sculpture
Polish kora
  • korasculpture
Russian ко́ра
  • ко́ра (kóra)sculpture

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with kore

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

kore. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kore

MLA

“kore.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kore. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kore,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kore.

Source: kore on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.