Chorister

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒɹɪstə(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. A member of a singing group in a church or choir who performs vocal pieces, often in religious services
2. A person who sings in a choir, typically one associated with a church, and contributes to the musical aspect of worship or performance
3. An individual who participates in a choral group, often performing liturgical music or hymns in both religious and concert settings

Etymology: Church choirs once sang from a room called the "choir," a word that came into English from Old French "cuer," meaning "choir" in the sense of the part of a church where singers stood, and which itself traces back to Latin "chorus." The singers themselves were first called "queristres" in late Middle English, a form borrowed through an Anglo-Norman variant of the Old French "cueriste." So the person came before the modern spelling settled, and the spelling we use now was reshaped to match the word "choir." The ending "-ster" is an old English suffix that marks a person associated with an activity, as in "spinster" or "songster." Attaching it to "choir" produced a label for the singer as a member of that group. The word's form therefore records two layers: a French-derived root for the singing place and an older English suffix that turned the place into the people who filled it.

Synonyms: singer, vocalist, cantor, performer, soloist