corps

From French corps d’armée (literally “army body”), from Latin corpus (“body”). Doublet of corpse and corpus. See also English riff.

singular

• (with the horse-hoarse merger)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kô, IPA^(key): /kɔː/
  • (General American) enPR: kôr, IPA^(key): /koɹ/, [kʰo̞ɹ]

    Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
  • Homophones: core, cor; caw (non-rhotic accents with the horse-hoarse merger)
• (without the horse–hoarse merger)
  • (rhotic) enPR: kōr, IPA^(key): /ko(ː)ɹ/
  • (non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /koə/

plural

• (with the horse-hoarse merger)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kôz, IPA^(key): /kɔːz/
  • (General American) enPR: kôrz, IPA^(key): /koɹz/, [kʰo̞ɹz]
  • Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)z
  • Homophone: cores; cause, caws (non-rhotic accents with the horse-hoarse merger)
• (without the horse–hoarse merger)
  • (rhotic) enPR: kōrz, IPA^(key): /ko(ː)ɹz/
  • (non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /koəz/

corps (plural corps)

1. (military) A battlefield formation composed of two or more divisions.
2. An organized group of people united by a common purpose.

   diplomatic corps

   White House press corps

Clipping.

corps

1. plural of corp

corps (plural corpses)

1. Obsolete spelling of corpse.
   • 1658, Thomas Browne, Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall, or, A Discourse of the Sepulchrall Urnes Lately Found in Norfolk […], London: […] Hen. Brome […], page 16:

     How to keep the corps ſeven dayes from corruption by anointing and waſhing, without exenteration, were an hazardable peece of art, in our choiſeſt practiſe.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 597–601:

     To mee, who with eternal Famin pine, / Alike is Hell, or Paradiſe, or Heaven, / There beſt, where moſt with ravin I may meet; / Which here, though plenteous, all too little ſeems / To ſtuff this Maw, this vaſt unhide-bound Corps.

   • 1788, [Vicesimus Knox], Winter Evenings: or, Lucubrations on Life and Letters, volume II, Dublin: […] Messrs. Chamberlaine, Moncrieffe, White, […], page 70:

     Did I poſſeſs the power of reſuſcitation, I would reanimate thy lifeleſs corps, and cheriſh thee in the warmeſt corner of thy favourite dwelling-place.

   • 1818, John Palmer, Journal of Travels in the United States of North America, and in Lower Canada, Performed in the Year 1817: […], London: […] Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […], page 92:

     The women looked like dead bodies; and never did I see such a sepulchral appearance as their dress and colourless faces exhibited, they were all dressed alike in drab gowns, white neck kerchiefs, and a cap fitting close over their ears, and fastened under the chin, the same sort as are placed on a corps.

• S corp., crops, procs, scorp, sproc

From Latin corpus.

corps m (plural corps)

1. body

Borrowed from French corps, from Middle French cors, from Old French cors, from Latin corpus. Doublet of corpus.

• IPA^(key): /koːr/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: corps

corps n (plural corpsen or corpora, diminutive corpsje n)

1. (chiefly Netherlands) student society, especially a traditional and hierarchical one
2. Superseded spelling of korps.

Traditional student societies tend to prescribe the plural corpora, in regular language the plural corpsen is more common.

• studentencorps
• natie (historical)
• studentenclub
• studentenvereniging

• corpsbal
• corpslid
• studentencorps

Inherited from Middle French cors, from Old French cors, inherited from Latin corpus (“body”). The p was added back to reflect the Latin etymology. Doublet of corpus.

• IPA^(key): /kɔʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: cor, cors

corps m (plural corps)

1. body
2. (mathematics) field (in abstract algebra)
3. (military) corps

• Karipúna Creole French: kó
• → Danish: korps
• → English: corps
• → Dutch: corps, korps
• → German: Korps
• → Norwegian Bokmål: korps
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: korps
• → Romanian: corp (in part)
• → Swedish: kår

• “corps”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• porcs