kudos

KOO´-doze

(‘the many’ in Greek)

This term’s meaning is simple—glory, praise, or renown, generally in conjunction with a particular achievement or event.

But be careful how you use the term. The difficulty comes from the word’s Greek roots. Kudos is an English borrowing based on the singular noun kydos, meaning ‘glory.’

Because kudos ends in s, some people assume it’s plural, leading them to use an inexistent singular form: “She gave me a kudo.”

There’s no such thing as a kudo.

It’s always kudos.

She gave me kudos for winning the wrestling match.