Word | farceur |
---|---|
Date | October 2, 2017 |
Type | noun |
Syllables | fahr-SER |
Etymology | You've probably already spotted the "farce" in farceur. But although farceur can now refer to someone who performs or composes farce, it began life as a word for someone who is simply known for cracking jokes. Appropriately, farceur derives via Modern French from the Middle French farcer, meaning "to joke." If you think of farce as a composition of ridiculous humor with a "stuffed" or contrived plot, then it should not surprise you that farce originally meant "forcemeat"—seasoned meat used for a stuffing—and that both farce and farceur can be ultimately traced back to the Latin verb farcire, meaning "to stuff." |
Examples | Grace's class presentation went very well, but she could have done without the snide remarks from the farceurs at the back of the room. "Jerry Lewis didn't just play a nutty professor. For years he reigned as a mad comic scientist of the screen—a brash innovator who exploded conventions and expectations on either side of the camera, and a take-no-prisoners farceur who mixed slapstick antics with a seething man-child persona of his own making." — Justin Chang, The Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2017 |
Definition | 1 : joker, wag 2 : a writer or actor of farce or satire |
Tags: wordoftheday::noun
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