Kourotrophos
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any of a class of Mycenaean terracotta figurines depicting women carrying children.
- 1 divine epithet meaning "concerned with child-rearing" Greek
"Several Greek deities have a title *Kourotrophos, meaning ‘concerned with child-rearing’, but no Greek or Roman goddess is specifically concerned with lactation and there are few examples in art of the ‘nursing goddess’."
- 2 Ancient Greek goddess whose functions pertained to child-rearing Greek
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Several Greek deities have a title *Kourotrophos, meaning ‘concerned with child-rearing’, but no Greek or Roman goddess is specifically concerned with lactation and there are few examples in art of the ‘nursing goddess’."
Etymology
Presumably from Kourotrophos, itself from Ancient Greek κουροτρόφος (kourotróphos). Assigned by Elizabeth B. French, c. 1970
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κουροτρόφος (kourotróphos, “rearing boys” or “bringing up boys”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.