douceur
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
douceur
Where it comes from
Borrowed from French douceur (“sweetness”), from Old French dolçor, dulcur, etc., from Latin dulcōr + -em, from dulcis (“sweet”). Naturalized in Middle English as douceoure, dousour but treated as a French loanword from the 17th century onward. Doublet of dulcour.
noun douceurs
- Sweetness of manner: agreeableness, gentleness.
- Sweet speech: a compliment.
- A sweetener: a gift offered to sweeten another's attitude, a tip or bribe. When Dangerfield put the little roll in his hand, Irons looked suspicious and frightened, and balanced it in his palm, as if he had thoughts of chucking it from him, as though it were literally a satanic douceur. But it is hard to part with money, and Irons, though he still looked cowed and unhappy,
- A tax break provided as an inducement to sell valuable items (especially art) to public collections rather than on the open market.
Similar: gratuity, and Thesaurus:bribe
