# douceur

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. Sweetness of manner: agreeableness, gentleness.
2. Sweet speech: a compliment.
3. A sweetener: a gift offered to sweeten another's attitude, a tip or bribe.
4. A tax break provided as an inducement to sell valuable items (especially art) to public collections rather than on the open market.

## Etymology
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.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/douceur