coryphée
/kɑɹɪˈfeɪ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Synonym of coryphaeus.
noun
Synonym of coryphaeus.
noun
A ballet dancer ranking above a member of the corps de ballet and below a soloist.
Example Sentences
- "The piece [...] contains a passage for men's voices marked "Les Travailleurs," topped by a tenor solo (in alto clef) marked "Coryphée," a term originally meaning leader of the chorus, as in a Greek tragedy. [...] [T]he aforementioned "Coryphée" line grows out of a recitative for first tenor."
- "Two coryphées, or coryphæi, the term for the leader of a Greek chorus, were stationed in towers on either side of the stage. A device borrowed from Léon Chancerel's Mission de Jeanne d'Arc, the coryphées are present for the entire length of the drama. Like the messenger, they commented upon the action in a Manichean dialogue: one cheering on Joan of Arc, the other deriding her."
- "It was likewiſe cuſtomary to drink hard at theſe kinds of feaſts; yet it ſeems, according to the ſame author [Posidonius], that the coryphee, or head-gueſt, always began firſt, and put the cup, or rather pitcher, about to his next neighbour, till it had gone round: for, it ſeems, they all drank out of the ſame veſſel, and no man could drink till it came to his turn, nor refuſe when it did."
- "[...] Louis the Fourteenth,—that glory, / That Coryphée of all crown'd pates, / That pink of the Legitimates— [...]"
- "And now, whip—whip—whip—as fast as St. Francis [of Assisi] himself, or St. Dominic Loricatus, coryphee of flagellants, could himself have flagellated."
- "Dined with Bryan: company, Shiel, Wyse, and a Mr. Finlay. Talked of an infinity of subjects, Shiel giving some good mimicries of Dan, and having evidently no vast respect for his great Coryphée."
Etymology
Borrowed from French coryphée, from Latin coryphaeus, from Ancient Greek κορυφαῖος (koruphaîos, “leader of the chorus in an Ancient Greek drama”), from κορῠφή (korŭphḗ, “top of the head, crown”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; horn”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘belonging to, pertaining to’).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: *ḱerh₂-, coryphée, coryphaeus, κορυφαῖος
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kɑɹɪˈfeɪ/
- British English: /kɒɹɪˈfeɪ/