Cosmos

September 25, 2025 - The cosmos (/ˈkɒzmɒs/, US also /-moʊs, -məs/; Ancient Greek: κόσμος, romanized: kósmos) is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word cosmos implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.

c. 1600, "the art of beautifying, art of anointing or decorating the human body," from Latinized form of Greek kosmetike (tekhnē) "the art of dress and ornament," from fem. of kosmetikos "skilled in adornment or arrangement," from kosmein "to arrange, adorn," from kosmos "order; ornament" (see cosmos). The adjective is feminine because tekhnē is a feminine noun. Meaning "a preparation for beautifying, preparation that renders the n soft and pure or improves the complexion" (originally also the hair) is attested from 1640s.

especially : a widely cultivated tall annual (C. bipinnatus) with yellow or red disks and showy ray flowers ... Cosmos often simply means "universe". But the word is generally used to suggest an orderly or harmonious universe, as it was originally ...

Cosmos is originally a Greek word, meaning both "order" and "world," because the ancient Greeks thought that the world was perfectly harmonious and impeccably put in order. We now use cosmos without the idea of perfect order.

Borrowed from translingual Cosmos (genus name), from New Latin cosmos, from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos, “decoration, ornament; order; universe; the earth, the world”) (referring to its elegant leaves);[3] see further at etymology ...

August 25, 2017 - Cosmos: In usage since ancient times, this word of Greek origin originally meant “order” and “arrangement.” From this broad category, we derive the Russian cosmonaut, literally meaning “space sailor”, as well as the word cosmetic, ...

A cosmos is a flower with brightly colored, raylike petals.The name cosmos can be used for any plant in the genus Cosmos. The plural can be cosmos or cosmoses.Cosmoses are popular in gardens. Two of the best-known species are Cosmos bipannatus and Cosmos sulphureus (known as sulphur cosmos), both of which are cultivated for their flowers.Cosmos flowers vary widely in color.

January 12, 2000 - Cosmos, in astronomy, the entire physical universe considered as a unified whole (from the Greek kosmos, meaning “order,” “harmony,” and “the world”). Humanity’s growing understanding of all the objects and phenomena within the ...

before a vowel cosm-, word-forming element from Latinized form of Greek kosmos (see cosmos). In older use, "the world, the universe;" since 1950s, especially of outer space. Also cosmico-. ... c. 1200, "the universe, the world" (but not popular ...

The universe seen as a well-ordered whole; from the Greek word kosmos ‘order, ornament, world, or universe’, so called by Pythagoras or his disciples from their view of its perfect order and arrangement.

There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun cosmos. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

Answer (1 of 2): It is a Greek word. In Ancient Greek, ὁ κόσμος (ho kósmos, masculine word) meant all at once the universe, the cosmos, but also the ornament. This is why we say cosmetics for beauty products.

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised. ... The earliest known use of the noun cosmos is in the late 1500s. OED's earliest evidence for cosmos is from 1598, in a translation by Richard Hakluyt, geographer. ... Etymons: Latin cosmos.

3 Etymology 2 · 4 Noun · 5 Credits · From Latinized form of Ancient Greek κόσμος or kósmos (order, proper order of the world). cosmos (countable and uncountable, plural cosmoses or cosmoi) The universe. An ordered, harmonious whole. cosmetic · cosmonaut ·

And anyone with an ear attuned to the confluence of rhetoric and politics (or perhaps of societal order and good government) will be interested to learn that from a very early date the word was also the name of a chief magistracy in Crete, or that Thucydides used cosmos to mean 'government' more generally.

In some cases, it represents "outer space."Cosmo- comes from the Greek kósmos, variously meaning “order, good order, government, world order, the universe.” The Greek kósmos is ultimately the source of the English words cosmos, cosmic, ...

cosmos, n.³ meanings, etymology, pronunciation and more in the Oxford English Dictionary

COSMOS definition: 1. the universe considered as a system with an order and pattern: 2. a plant grown in gardens for…. Learn more.

1640s, "worldly, of this world," a sense now obsolete, from Latinized form of Greek kosmikos "worldly, earthly, of the world," from kosmos "world-order, world" (see cosmos). Cosmical "related to the earth" is attested from 1580s.

Is your given name, Cosmos, a first in your family tree? Part of a cultural tradition? Ancestry® can tell you your first name’s origins plus its meaning.