chanteuse

noun

chan·​teuse shan-ˈtüz  shäⁿ-ˈtərz 

-ˈtəz

plural chanteuses shan-ˈtüz 

-ˈtü-zəz,

-ˈtərz,

-ˈtəz,

-ˈtər-zəz,

-ˈtə-zəz

: songstress

especially : a woman who is a concert or nightclub singer

Examples of chanteuse in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Her name is Mary Todd Lincoln, a hard-boozing, curl-bouncing chanteuse known for her short legs and long medleys. —Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 12 July 2024

Chirac essentially lost his mandate after six months in office, and Sarkozy was overwhelmed in the public eye by the intricacies of his own domestic existence, which left him divorced and then remarried, to the chanteuse Carla Bruni. —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 9 July 2024

The chanteuse’s dress is, in fact, a combination of two of his previous designs: the skintight looks in the tableau that closed his final couture show at the Théâtre du Châtelet in 2020, and the corsets that peppered his spring 2012 tribute to Amy Winehouse. —Hayley Maitland, Vogue, 24 June 2024

Meanwhile, protagonist Cliff Bradshaw, a struggling American novelist, has affairs with both men and with Sally Bowles, the club’s chanteuse. —Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 7 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, from chanter "to sing" (going back to Old French) + -euse, feminine agent suffix, from feminine of -eux, adjective suffix, going back to Old French -eus, earlier -os, -ous, going back to Latin -ōsus -ose entry 1 — more at chant entry 1

Note: The feminine adjectival suffix -euse developed into an agent suffix in later Middle French, when, in line with the general loss of final consonants, the agent suffix -eur lost its consonant and became completely homonymous with the masculine adjectival suffix -eux; the two suffixes being identified, -euse came into use as a feminine complement to -eur. The restoration of final r in the suffix -eur has once again separated the suffixes.

First Known Use

1823, in the meaning defined above