Word of the Day

: March 24, 2013

canorous

adjective kuh-NOR-us

What It Means

: pleasant sounding : melodious

canorous in Context

A canorous chorus of birdsong filled the morning air.

"The album features fast and brooding melodies … and standout canorous piano and clean guitar moments…." - From a post by Caroline Jensen at Rock Edition, February 6, 2013

Did You Know?

In Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821), the essayist Thomas de Quincey describes a manservant who, after accidentally letting a loaded trunk fall down a flight of stairs, "sang out a long, loud, and canorous peal of laughter." "Canorous" typically describes things, such as church choirs or birds in the spring, that are a pleasure to listen to. It derives from the Latin verb "canere" ("to sing"), a root it shares with a number of words that evoke what is sweet to the ear, such as "chant," "canticle," "cantor" (a leader of a choir), "carmen" (a song, poem, or incantation) and even "accent."