Kosmoses

Kosmoses is the plural form of kosmos, a term rooted in Greek that in English can refer to the universe as an ordered whole or to an ordered system within philosophy and science. The word kosmos originally denoted order, arrangement, or ornament, and by extension the cosmos as the totality of the physical world. In contemporary English, cosmos is commonly treated as an uncountable noun; when discussing multiple universe-like systems, writers more often use cosmoi (the Greek plural) or universes. The form kosmoses is attested but rare and not standard in modern scientific writing.

Usage and meaning commonly center on two related senses. In classical philosophy, kosmos referred to an orderly, structured universe contrasted with chaos. In modern science, cosmos generally denotes the observable universe or the entirety of physical reality, with pluralization for multiple systems being uncommon. The plural kosmoses can appear in translations or speculative literature to indicate distinct, separate ordered systems or universes, but such usage is unusual and may seem contrived in formal writing. When discussing more than one such system, many writers substitute cosmoi or universes.

In culture and scholarship, some translators and commentators employ kosmoses to stress pluralism of worlds within metaphysical or religious thought. More typical terms for discussions of multiple worlds include multiverses, universes, or cosmoi. See also kosmos, cosmos, cosmology, multiverse.