raconteur

noun

ra·​con·​teur ˌra-ˌkän-ˈtər 

-kən-

: a person who excels in telling anecdotes

Did you know?

Raconteur Has Old French Roots

If you’re a sage of sagas, a bard of ballads, or a pro in prose, you may have lost count of the accounts you’ve recounted. Some might call you a recounter, but as a master of narrative form you may find that recounter lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. Sure, it has a cool story—it traces back to the Latin verb computere, meaning “to count”—but so do many words: compute and computer, count and account, and neither last nor least, raconteur, a singsong title better fit for a whimsical storyteller. English speakers borrowed raconteur from French in the early 19th century.

Examples of raconteur in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

At the center of it, as resident raconteur, impresario and all-around music maven, was Mr. Lee, a nonstop talker who knew where each of the 100,000-odd titles in his shop could be found. —Matt Schudel, Washington Post, 9 July 2024

Towne was a natural raconteur whose stories were every bit as rich as his screenplays — as evidenced by an in-depth Variety interview that ran last month — and whose best writing often went uncredited. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 3 July 2024

Juan Gay—playful raconteur, child lost and found and lost, guardian of the institutionalized—has a project to pass along to this new narrator. —Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 17 June 2024

On her first two records, the Quebecois folk singer wrapped her low, steely purr around diverse material—from the sardonic light verse of raconteur Dorothy Parker to her own lyrics about the birth of her daughter. —Reed Jackson, SPIN, 16 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

French, from Middle French, from raconter to tell, from Old French, from re- + aconter, acompter to tell, count — more at account

First Known Use

1828, in the meaning defined above

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!