coryphée
English · Français
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
coryphée
- /kɒɹɪˈfeɪ/ UK
- /kɑɹɪˈfeɪ/ US
- /-ɹə-/ US
Where it comes from
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’).
noun coryphées · coryphee
- The conductor or leader of the chorus of a drama. 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.
- The chief or leader of an interest or party. 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
- A ballet dancer ranking above a member of the corps de ballet and below a soloist. Mademoiselle Coralie Montmorrillion, a talented artiste from the grand opera, at Paris, and now principal coryphée at the theatre royal— [...]
Translations
Talk about this word "coryphée." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/coryph%C3%A9e. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. coryphée. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/coryph%C3%A9e "coryphée." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/coryph%C3%A9e.Cite this
@misc{coryphe_e_2026,
title = {coryphée},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/coryph%C3%A9e},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
