Canorous

WORD OF THE DAY

canorous / adjective / kuh-NOR-us

Definition
1: pleasant sounding
2: melodious

Examples
"His artistry, technical proficiency, and canorous melodies have an introspective yet uplifting feeling by virtue of the beauty and honesty that so naturally accompany the acoustic guitar."
— Kevin Gillies, Noozhawk (Santa Barbara, California), 26 Nov. 2018

"There is an element of truth to that, but Zephyr—such a canorous hippie-child name—sang a populist tune not found in any Beltway progressive songbook."
— Bill Kauffman, American Conservative, 1 Nov. 2014

Did You Know?
In Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821), the author Thomas de Quincey describes a manservant who, after accidentally letting a loaded trunk fall down a flight of stairs, "sang out a long, loud, and canorous peal of laughter."
Canorous typically describes things, such as church choirs or birds in the spring, that are a pleasure to listen to. It derives from the Latin verb canere ("to sing"), a root it shares with a number of words that evoke what is sweet to the ear, such as chant, canticle ("a song"), cantor ("a leader of a choir"), carmen ("a song, poem, or incantation"), and even accent.