kora
UK/ˈkɔːɹə/US/ˈkoɹə/
kora noun: a type of harp or lute played in West Africa.
Noun
kora (plural koras)
- A type of harp or lute played in West Africa.
- He is performing here with his Symmetric Orchestra, an ensemble of West African musicians who play both traditional instruments (kora, balafon, bolombatto, djembe) and slightly more contemporary ones (guitars, keyboards).2009 April 17, The New York Times, “Pop Listings”, in New York Times
- Since its invention, probably in sixteenth-century Senegal, the kora has been used by professional bards called jalis, or griots. The plucked instrument's harplike sound accompanies the jali's song—praise for patrons, histories and genealogies, satire, political commentary, and poetic recitation.2015, J. Kenneth Moore, Jayson Kerr Dobney, E Bradley Strachen-Scherer, Musical Instruments: Highlights of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, →ISBN, page 172
Proper noun capitalized: Kora
Kora
- A female given name, modern or (rare) German variant of Cora.
Forms of kora
| plural | koras |
|---|
Origin of kora
Borrowed from Bambara kɔ́ra.
Words formed from kora
Words that rhyme with kora
13 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about kora
- What does kora mean?
- Kora means a type of harp or lute played in West Africa.
- What part of speech is kora?
- Kora can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce kora?
- Kora is pronounced /ˈkɔːɹə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of kora?
- The plural of kora is koras.
Words near kora in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kora (page history and authors); Kora (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “kora.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kora. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.