Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

telos

/ˈtiː.lɒs/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.32 in modern English

Syllables: te-los
IPA: /ˈtiː.lɒs/

5

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The aim, purpose, or end goal.

Example Sentences

"But confusion persists because of the more contentious issue between the technos and the telos of music and art making in general, the instruments versus the purposes to which they are put, the means and the ends."
"the collapsing of bios and technos into each other is not only politically naive, producing a completely reified grand narrative of technology as the true agent and telos of natural and (in)human history"
"In Lewis' view, such societies are cut off from an appreciation of the past, committed to the utopian ideal of unlimited progress, self-satisfied, concerned with technos rather than telos, and skeptical about reason."

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek τέλος (télos).

Origin

Source language: Ancient Greek

Word Breakdown

Root: *kʷel-, τέλος

Inflected Forms

teloses (plural) teloi (plural) tele (plural) telea (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

technos

Questions

How do you pronounce telos?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈtiː.lɒs/.
What does telos mean?: The aim, purpose, or end goal.
Where does telos come from?: It is traced to Ancient Greek.

How to pronounce telos

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “telos”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈtiː.lɒs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “telos”.
Repeat and practice — Say “telos” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.