choir

Etymology

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 French chœur. Doublet of quire, chorus, and hora.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kwaɪə(ɹ)/, /kwa(ɹ)/ (rapid speech)^{[en-ref 1]}

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /kwaɪɚ/, /kwaɹ/ (rapid speech)^{[en-ref 1]}

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /kʰwaja(ɾ)/, (spelling pronunciation) /kʰɒja(ɾ)/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ), (Indic spelling pronunciation) -ɔɪə(ɹ)
• (most accents) Homophone: quire

Noun

choir (plural choirs)

1. A group of people who sing together; a company of people who are trained to sing together.

   Alternative form: (archaic) quire

   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) Uncommon form of quire (“one quarter of a cruciform church, or the architectural area of a church used by the choir, often near the apse”).
   • 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.

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To sing in concert.

   Alternative form: (poetic) quire

   • 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.

References

Anagrams

• chiro, chiro-, chori, ichor, orchi

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ʃwaʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -waʁ

Verb

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, “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]"

Further reading

• “choir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [xɛɾʲ]

Noun

choir m

1. Lenited form of coir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈxo.ɨrʲ]

Adjective

choïr

1. Lenited form of coïr.