Worry beads or kombolói, kompoloi is a string of beads manipulated with one or two hands and used to pass time in Greek and Cypriot culture. Unlike the similar prayer beads used in many religious traditions, worry beads have no religious or ceremonial purpose.

Modern Greek κομπολόι is derived from κομβολόγιον < κόμβος “knot” + -λόγιο “collection”. It is sometimes said that it is short for the phrase σε κάθε κόμπο προσευχή λέω, “in every knot I say a prayer”- κόμπο “knot”-λέω “say” > κόμπο-λέω > κομπολόι.[1][2] This etymology accounts for the fact that κομπολόι evolved from κομποσκοίνι, the Greek word for prayer rope.