Kyrie
//ˈkɪəɹ.ɪˌeɪ// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A short prayer or petition including the phrase kyrie eleison, meaning “Lord, have mercy”.
- 2 A setting of the traditional kyrie text to music for a Mass.
Etymology
From Ecclesiastical Latin Kyrie, contraction of the Ancient Greek phrase Κύριε ἐλέησον (Kúrie eléēson, “Lord, have mercy”), from Ancient Greek Κύριε (Kúrie), vocative form of Κύριος (Kúrios, “Lord”), from κῦρος (kûros, “supremacy, authority”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱēw-, *ḱewh₁- (“to swell, spread out, be strong, prevail”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.