Wiktionary

choir

See also: chòir and chóir

English

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A church choir

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English quer, quere, from Old French quer, from Latin chorus, from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “company of dancers or singers”). Modern spelling influenced by chorus and Modern French chœur, making it the only English word where the digraph oi is pronounced /waɪ/. Doublet of chorus and hora.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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choir (plural choirs)

  1. A group of people who sing together; a company of people who are trained to sing together.
    The church choir practices Thursday nights.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
  2. (architecture) The part of a church where the choir assembles for song.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
  3. (Christian angelology) One of the nine ranks or orders of angels.
    Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones are three of the choirs of angels.
  4. Set of strings (one per note) for a harpsichord.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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choir (third-person singular simple present choirs or quires, present participle choiring or quiring, simple past and past participle choired or quired)

  1. (intransitive) To sing in concert.
    • 1859, The Presbyterian Magazine, volume 9, page 423:
      The great aim of this book is to secure congregational singing, which the churches must come to, at last, after a long interval of choiring.

Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Middle French cheoir, from Old French cheoir, from older chedeir, from Late Latin cadēre, from Latin cadĕre, from Proto-Italic *kadō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d- (“to fall”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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choir (defective) (past participle chu)

  1. (literary) to fall
    Synonym: tomber
    • 1640, Pierre Corneille, Horace, act 5, scene 3:
      L’abandonnerez-vous à l’infâme couteau
      Qui fait choir les méchants sous la main d’un bourreau ?
      Would you abandon him to the infamous blade
      Which makes the wicked fall under the headman's hand?
    • 1976, Serge Gainsbourg (lyrics and music), “Chez Max coiffeur pour hommes”, in L’homme à tête de chou:
      Puis sous le sirocco du séchoir
      Dans mes cheveux
      La petite garce laisse choir :
      "Je veux"
      Then under the sirocco of the dryer
      Into my hair
      The little lass let drop [the words]
      "I want [you]"

Conjugation

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This is a defective verb, only conjugated in certain tenses.

Conjugation of choir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple choir
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple —
compound ayant + past participle
past participle chu
/ʃy/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present chois
/ʃwa/ 		chois
/ʃwa/ 		choit
/ʃwa/ 		choyons
/ʃwa.jɔ̃/ 		choyez
/ʃwa.je/ 		choient
/ʃwa/
imperfect — — — — — —
past historic2 chus
/ʃy/ 		chus
/ʃy/ 		chut
/ʃy/ 		chûmes
/ʃym/ 		chûtes
/ʃyt/ 		churent
/ʃyʁ/
future choirai or cherrai
/ʃwa.ʁe/ or /ʃɛ.ʁe/ or /ʃe.ʁe/ 		choiras or cherras
/ʃwa.ʁa/ or /ʃɛ.ʁa/ or /ʃe.ʁa/ 		choira or cherra
/ʃwa.ʁa/ or /ʃɛ.ʁa/ or /ʃe.ʁa/ 		choirons or cherrons
/ʃwa.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃe.ʁɔ̃/ 		choirez or cherrez
/ʃwa.ʁe/ or /ʃɛ.ʁe/ or /ʃe.ʁe/ 		choiront or cherront
/ʃwa.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃe.ʁɔ̃/
conditional choirais
/ʃwaʁɛ/ 		choirais
/ʃwaʁɛ/ 		choirait
/ʃwaʁɛ/ 		choirions
/ʃwaʁjɔ̃/ 		choiriez
/ʃwaʁje/ 		choiraient
/ʃwaʁɛ/
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present — — — — — —
imperfect2 — — chût
/ʃy/ 		— — —
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — — — — — —
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Irish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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choir m

  1. Lenited form of coir.

Old Irish

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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choïr

  1. Lenited form of coïr.
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