Acknowledgement of a good deed. People know you did something valuable, and when someone asks on whom to heap praise, they say that the kudos goes to you. See also cred.

I believe I first heard the word "kudos" when I was junior high school. My friend Jason and I were talking about comic books in P.E. class and the conversation turned to the Canadian superhero series Captain Canuck.

"The letters people wrote to the editor always said 'kudos'," Jason remembered. "Like, 'Kudos on the fine artwork and story in your wonderful comic.'"

"Kudos?"

"Yeah, like 'congratulations'. It must be a Canadian thing."

For years afterward, whenever I used the word 'kudos' I always explained that it was of Canadian origin, and when I talked to someone from Canada I made sure to use that word in place of 'congratulations' so as to make them feel comfortable.

Kudos are also a great candy bar cleverly marketed to parents of young children as a granola bar. It was your typical chewy granola bar covered in milk chocolate. There were different flavors which included chocolate chip, peanut butter, M&M, and regular. Their miniscule size allowed them to barely duck in under the 200 calorie mark a piece, as they are loaded with glorious fat and sugar.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition states that although the word "kudos" looks like plural, it's really not. Since kudos has been used as a plural so often in common usage over the last few years casually and in the press, a new singular usage has been accepted as proper. The singular form still isn't very often used as a descriptor, with most people preferring the original "plural." In fact, based on similar word derivations, the pronounciation should leave the last 's' sound unspoken anyway, as in "pathos."

Other examples of words that have suffered this fate include congeries, pea and cherry. The last two, interesting enough, were shortened from the old English "pease" and the French "cerise."

Ku"dos (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. ky^dos glory.]

Glory; fame; renown; praise.

W. H. Russel.

 

© Webster 1913.


Ku"dos, v. t.

To praise; to extol; to glorify.

"Kudos'd egregiously." [R.]

Southey.

 

© Webster 1913.

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