choir

See also: chòir and chóir

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kwaɪə(ɹ)/, /kwa(ɹ)/ (rapid speech)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /kwaɪɚ/, /kwaɹ/ (rapid speech)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
• 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.

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

• antechoir
• antichoir
• brass choir
• choir boy
• choirboy
• choirchild
• choirgirl
• choirleader
• choirless
• choirlike
• choirman
• choirmaster
• choirmate
• choirmistress
• choir organ
• choir school
• choir screen
• choirstall
• choirwise
• chorister
• dawn choir
• join the choir invisible
• Nikon choir
• polychoir
• preach to the choir
• retrochoir

 

Related terms

• choral
• chorus
• quire

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)
• Khiamniungan Naga: tsúihói
• 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

• Armenian: դաս (hy) (das)
• Basque: koru
• Bulgarian: хор (bg) m (hor)
• Czech: kruchta (cs) f, kůr (cs) m
• Dutch: koor (nl) n
• Finnish: kuori (fi)
• French: chœur (fr)
• German: Chor (de) m
• Greek: χορωδία (el) f (chorodía)
• Hungarian: kórus (hu), énekkar (hu), kar (hu)
• Icelandic: kór (is) m
• Indonesian: kor (id)
• Italian: coro (it) m
• Japanese: 聖歌隊 (せいかたい, seikatai)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kor (no) n

• Polish: chór (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: coro (pt) m
• Russian: хоры́ (ru) m pl (xorý)
• Swedish: kor (sv) c

a rank or order of angels

• French: classe (fr), chœur (fr)
• German: Engelschor m
• Polish: chór (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: coro (pt) m

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.

Anagrams

• chiro, chiro-, chori, ichor, orchi

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

• 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 (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

We can find the present participle chéant/cheyant, the imperfect indicative chéais, chéait/cheyait. 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

• chute
• déchoir
• échoir
• méchoir
• rechoir

Further reading

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

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [xɛɾʲ]

Noun

choir m

1. Lenited form of coir.

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈxo.ɨrʲ]

Adjective

choïr

1. Lenited form of coïr.