Wiktionary

cosmos

See also: Cosmos

English edit

WOTD – 9 November 2024

Etymology 1 edit

 
A photograph of a portion of the cosmos (etymology 1, sense 1).

From Middle English cosmos (“the universe; the world”),[1] borrowed from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos, “order; universe; the earth, the world; decoration, ornament”),[2] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱens- (“to announce, proclaim; to put in order”).

The plural form cosmoi is a learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κόσμοι (kósmoi).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

cosmos (countable and uncountable, plural cosmoses or cosmoi)

  2. (countable) The universe regarded as a system with harmony and order.
    • 1850 August, “Art. V.—The Baron Humboldt’s ‘Cosmos.’ The Physical History of the Universe Explained and Displayed.”, in J[ames] D[unwoody] B[rownson] De Bow, editor, De Bow’s Review of the Southern and Western States, volume I (3rd Series; volume IX overall), number 2, New Orleans, La.: J. D. B. De Bow, →OCLC, page 153:
      This doctrine [the nebular hypothesis] supposes all the material universe to have been once in a fluid or nebular condition, and that, by the operation of universal gravitation and the thousand other laws of nature, the nebular matter has been mainly aggregated into masses, and the existing cosmoi been developed.
    • 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine‎[1]:
      "Can you conceive a process by which you, an organic being, are in the same way dissolved into the cosmos, and then by a subtle reversal of the conditions reassembled once more?"
    • 1980, Carl Sagan, Cosmos:
      The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us—there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, of falling from a height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.
    • 2010, Terry Horgan, “Materialism, Minimal Emergentism, and the Hard Problem of Consciousness”, in Robert C[harles] Koons, George Bealer, editors, The Waning of Materialism, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part IV (Alternatives to Materialism), pages 309–310:
      In seeking a satisfactory formulation of materialism, it helps to employ the notion of a possible world. Possible worlds are plausibly construed not literally as universes other than the single real universe (i.e., not as cosmoi), but rather as total ways the cosmos might be—i.e., maximal properties instantiable by the single real world (the single cosmos). On this usage, the item designated as the actual world—considered as one among the various possible worlds—is not itself the cosmos either, but rather is the total cosmos-instantiable property that is actually instantiated by the cosmos. But it will be convenient in practice to speak as though the actual world is the cosmos and as though other possible worlds are other such cosmoi — a harmless enough manner of speaking, as long as one bears in mind that it is not intended literally.
    • 2013 August 24, “A problem of cosmic proportions”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850:
      In Dr Wetterich’s picture of the cosmos the redshift others attribute to expansion is, rather, the result of the universe putting on weight. If atoms weighed less in the past, he reasons, the light they emitted then would, in keeping with the laws of quantum mechanics, have been less energetic than the light they emit now.
    1. (by extension) A harmonious, ordered whole.
      • 1890, S.B. Palmer, “Matter and force in the oral cavity”, in The Dental Cosmos, volume XXXII, page 538:
        This simple cell is a cosmos in this respect: it represents the laws of the universe in changes of matter, and clearly exemplifies their workings in the oral cavity.
  3. (uncountable) Harmony, order.
    Antonym: chaos
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
harmony, order — see harmony,‎ order

Etymology 2 edit

 
The garden cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus; etymology 2).

From the genus name Cosmos, from New Latin cosmos, from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos, “decoration, ornament; order; universe; the earth, the world”) (referring to its elegant leaves).[3]

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

cosmos (countable and uncountable, plural cosmos)

  1. Any of various mostly Mexican herbs of the genus Cosmos having radiate heads of variously coloured flowers and pinnate leaves.
    • 1838, George B. Knowles, Frederic Westcott, The Floral Cabinet, and Magazine of Exotic Botany‎[2], volume 2, page 3:
      COSMOS DIVERSIFOLIUS. (Various-leaved Cosmos.)
    • 1842, Jane Loudon, Ladies’ Flower-garden of Ornamental Annuals‎[3], page 185:
      It was first described and figured in 1797, by Cavanilles, who called it Cosmos, from the Greek word Kosmos, beautiful ; but this name was afterwards altered by Willdenow to Cosmea, as being more consistent with the rules of botanical nomenclature.
    • 1947, R. K. Narayan, An Astrologer's Day and other stories‎[4], page 1:
      People were attracted to him as bees are attracted to cosmos or dahlia stalks.
Translations edit

Etymology 3 edit

 
A cosmo (etymology 3) or cosmopolitan, a type of cocktail.

From cosmo +‎ -s (suffix forming regular plurals of nouns).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

cosmos

  1. plural of cosmo

References edit

  1. ^ “cosmōs, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “cosmos, n.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “cosmos1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “cosmos, n.3”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “cosmos2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Catalan edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin cosmos, from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

cosmos m (invariable)

  1. cosmos, universe

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

French edit

Etymology edit

From Latin cosmos, from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

cosmos m (uncountable)

  1. cosmos, universe

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

Portuguese edit

Pronunciation edit

 

  • Hyphenation: cos‧mos

Noun edit

cosmos m (invariable)

  1. Alternative form of cosmo
  2. cosmos (herb of the genus Cosmos)

Romanian edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from French cosmos.

Noun edit

cosmos n (uncountable)

  1. cosmos, universe
  2. outer space

Declension edit

declension of cosmos (singular only)
singular
n gender indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) cosmos cosmosul
genitive/dative (unui) cosmos cosmosului
vocative cosmosule

Spanish edit

 
Spanish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia es

Etymology edit

From Latin cosmos, from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos, “world, universe”).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈkosmos/ [ˈkoz.mos]
  • Rhymes: -osmos
  • Syllabification: cos‧mos

Noun edit

cosmos m (plural cosmos)

  1. universe
    Synonyms: mundo, universo
  2. space (area beyond the atmosphere of planets)
    Synonym: espacio
  3. cosmos (herbs of the genus Cosmos)

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

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