Meanings
nounenfant de coeur (plural enfants de coeur)
plural enfants de coeur · alternative enfant de cœur
- obsoleteA child who sings in a choir, typically quiet and well-behaved.
"Nowadays, the young people sit while their elders stand!" the Abbot succinctly said, riveting a curly-pated enfant de coeur lolling coxcombically beneath the nose of a doating Statilia.
1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page #88
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Frenchenfant de chœur
- Frenchenfant de chœur
- Englishenfant de coeur
Borrowed from French enfant de chœur.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
enfant de coeur. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/enfant%20de%20coeur
MLA
“enfant de coeur.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/enfant%20de%20coeur. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “enfant de coeur,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/enfant%20de%20coeur.
Source: enfant de coeur on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.