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choir . In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
choir , but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
choir in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
choir you have here. The definition of the word
choir will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
choir , as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
A cathedral 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
Noun
choir (plural choirs )
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.
( 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.
( Christian angelology ) One of the nine ranks or orders of angels .
Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones are three of the choirs of angels.
Set of strings (one per note) for a harpsichord .
Usage notes
Although choir and quire originated as two spellings of the same word, they have gradually diverged in meaning in modern English.
Derived terms
Translations
singing group
Afrikaans: koor n
Albanian: kor (sq) m
Arabic: كُورَال m ( korāl ) , جَوْقَة f ( jawqa ) , كَوْرَس m ( kawras ) , كُورَس m ( kōras )
Egyptian Arabic: كورال m ( korāl )
Armenian: երգչախումբ (hy) ( ergčʻaxumb )
Azerbaijani: xor (az)
Basque: abesbatza , koru
Belarusian: хор m ( xor )
Bulgarian: хор (bg) m ( hor )
Catalan: cor (ca) m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 合唱團 / 合唱团 ( hap6 coeng3 tyun4 )
Mandarin: 合唱團 / 合唱团 (zh) ( héchàngtuán ) , 唱詩班 / 唱诗班 (zh) ( chàngshībān )
Czech: sbor (cs) m , chór m
Danish: kor (da) n
Dutch: koor (nl) n
Esperanto: ĥoro (eo) , koruso
Estonian: koor (et)
Faroese: kór n
Finnish: kuoro (fi) , kööri (fi) ( colloquial )
French: chœur (fr) m , chorale (fr) f
Galician: coro (gl) m
Georgian: გუნდი ( gundi )
German: Chor (de) m
Greek: χορωδία (el) f ( chorodía )
Ancient: χορός m ( khorós )
Hebrew: מַקְהֵלָה (he) f ( mak'helá )
Hindi: कोरस (hi) f ( koras ) , वृन्दगान ( vŕndagān ) , गायक-मंडली ( gāyak-maṇḍlī )
Hungarian: kórus (hu) , énekkar (hu) , kar (hu)
Icelandic: kór (is) m
Ido: koro (io)
Indonesian: kor (id) , paduan suara (id)
Irish: cór m
Italian: coro (it) m
Japanese: 合唱団 (ja) ( がっしょうだん, gasshōdan )
Kazakh: хор ( xor )
Khmer: ក្រុមចម្រៀង ( krom cɑmriəng )
Korean: 합창단(合唱團) ( hapchangdan )
Krio: kwaya
Kyrgyz: хор (ky) ( hor )
Lao: ຄາຍົກຄະນະ ( khā nyok kha na )
Latin: chorus m , concentus m
Latvian: koris m
Lithuanian: choras (lt) m
Luhya: ekwaya
Macedonian: хор m ( hor )
Malay: koir , paduan suara
Maori: koaea , koea , rōpū waiata , tira waiata , kapa waiata
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: найрал дуу ( najral duu )
Mongolian: ᠨᠠᠶᠢᠷᠠᠯ ᠳᠠᠭᠤᠤ ( nayiral daɣuu )
Ngarrindjeri: kykulan
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kor (no) n
Old English: chor m
Persian: گروه کر ( goruh-e kor ) , کر (fa) ( kor )
Plautdietsch: Kua m
Polish: chór (pl) m inan
Portuguese: coro (pt) m , coral (pt) m
Romanian: cor (ro) n
Russian: хор (ru) m ( xor )
Scottish Gaelic: còisir f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: хо̑р m , збо̏р m
Roman: hȏr (sh) m , zbȍr (sh) m
Slovak: chór m , zbor m
Slovene: zbor (sl) m , kor m
Spanish: coro (es) m , masa coral f , orfeón (es) m , escolanía f
Swahili: kwaya (sw)
Swedish: kör (sv) c
Tajik: хор (tg) ( xor )
Tatar: хор ( xor )
Thai: คายกคณะ ( kaa-yá-gà-ká-ná ) , ลูกคู่ ( lûuk-kûu ) , นักร้องหมู่ ( nák-rɔ́ɔng-mùu ) , คณะประสานเสียง ( ká-ná-bprà-sǎan-sǐiang )
Turkish: koro (tr)
Turkmen: hor
Ukrainian: хор m ( xor )
Uyghur: خور ( xor )
Uzbek: xor (uz)
Vietnamese: dàn hợp xướng (團合唱 ), hợp xướng (vi) (合唱 )
Welsh: côr
Yiddish: כאָר m ( khor )
part of a church for choir assembly
a rank or order of angels
Verb
choir (third-person singular simple present choirs or quires , present participle choiring or quiring , simple past and past participle choired or quired )
( 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
French
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
Verb
choir (defective ) (past participle chu )
( 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 "I want "
Conjugation
This is a defective verb, only conjugated in certain tenses.
infinitive
simple
choir
compound
avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund 1
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 historic 2
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 anterior 2
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
—
—
—
—
—
—
imperfect 2
—
—
chût /ʃy/
—
—
—
(compound tenses)
past
present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect 2
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 , Master the Basics: French , pp. 77 , 78 , 79 , 81 ).
Derived terms
Further reading
Irish
Pronunciation
Noun
choir m
Lenited form of coir .
Old Irish
Pronunciation
Adjective
choïr
Lenited form of coïr .