kudo

noun (plural kudos) Etymology: back-formation from kudos (taken as a plural) Date: 1926 1. award, honor <

a score of honorary degrees and…other kudos — Time

> 2. compliment, praise <

to all three should go some kind of special kudo for refusing to succumb — Al Hine

> Usage: Some commentators hold that since kudos is a singular word it cannot be used as a plural and that the word kudo is impossible. But kudo does exist; it is simply one of the most recent words created by back-formation from another word misunderstood as a plural. Kudos was introduced into English in the 19th century; it was used in contexts where a reader unfamiliar with Greek could not be sure whether it was singular or plural. By the 1920s it began to appear as a plural, and about 25 years later kudo began to appear. It may have begun as a misunderstanding, but then so did cherry and pea.