douceur
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from French douceur (“sweetness”), from Old French dolçor, dulcur, etc., from Latin dulcōr + -em, from dulcis (“sweet”). Naturalized in Middle English as douceoure, dousour but treated as a French loanword from the 17th century onward. Doublet of dulcour.
Noun edit
douceur (countable and uncountable, plural douceurs)
- Sweetness of manner: agreeableness, gentleness.
- (obsolete) Sweet speech: a compliment.
- A sweetener: a gift offered to sweeten another's attitude, a tip or bribe.
- 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
- When Dangerfield put the little roll in his hand, Irons looked suspicious and frightened, and balanced it in his palm, as if he had thoughts of chucking it from him, as though it were literally a satanic douceur. But it is hard to part with money, and Irons, though he still looked cowed and unhappy, put the money into his breeches' pocket, and he made a queer bow […]
- (UK) A tax break provided as an inducement to sell valuable items (especially art) to public collections rather than on the open market.
Synonyms edit
- (sweet speech): See Thesaurus:praise
- (sweetener): See gift, gratuity, and Thesaurus:bribe
References edit
- Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "douceur, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897.
Dutch edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
douceur m (plural douceurs, diminutive douceurtje n)
French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Old French dolçor, from Late Latin dulcōrem, from Latin dulcis.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
douceur f (plural douceurs)
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
Further reading edit
- “douceur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.