chant

English

Alternative forms

• (archaic) chaunt

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French chanter, from Latin cantō, cantāre (“to sing”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tʃɑːnt/, /tʃænt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tʃænt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːnt

Verb

chant (third-person singular simple present chants, present participle chanting, simple past and past participle chanted)

1. To sing, especially without instruments, and as applied to monophonic and pre-modern music.
   • Spenser

     The cheerful birds […] do chant sweet music.

2. To sing or intone sacred text.
3. To utter or repeat in a strongly rhythmical manner, especially as a group.

   The football fans chanted insults at the referee.

   • 2009, Leo J. Daugherty III, The Marine Corps and the State Department, p 116 [1]

     On their way to Parliament Square, the demonstrators chanted slogans, sang the Hungarian national anthem, and waved banners and Hungarian flags (minus the hated Communist emblem).

4. (transitive, archaic) To sell horses fraudulently, exaggerating their merits.

Translations

sing monophonically without instruments

• Bulgarian: напявам (napjavam)
• Dutch: chanten, zingen (nl)
• Finnish: messuta
• French: chanter (fr)
• Galician: cantar (gl)
• Georgian: გალობა (galoba), გალობს (galobs)
• Irish: can, bí ag cantaireacht
• Italian: salmodiare (it)

• Latin: cano (la)
• Maori: oriori
• Nahuatl: tlatoa
• Portuguese: cantar (pt)
• Rapa Nui: rongorongo
• Russian: петь (ru) (petʹ)
• Spanish: (religious) salmodiar (es)
• Turkish: şarkı söylemek (tr), terennüm etmek (tr)

Noun

chant (plural chants)

1. Type of singing done generally without instruments and harmony.
2. (music) A short and simple melody, divided into two parts by double bars, to which unmetrical psalms, etc., are sung or recited. It is the most ancient form of choral music.
3. Twang; manner of speaking; a canting tone.
   • Macaulay

     His strange face, his strange chant.

4. A repetitive song, typically an incantation or part of a ritual.

Translations

type of singing

• Georgian: საგალობელი (sagalobeli)
• Irish: cantaireacht f, andord m
• Maori: oriori, whakaoriori

• Russian: песнопе́ние (ru) n (pesnopénije)
• Turkish: şarkı (tr), terennüm (tr)

Related terms

• enchant
• Gregorian chant
• incantation

Anagrams

• natch

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

chant

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of chanten
2. imperative of chanten

Anagrams

• nacht

---

French

Etymology

From Old French chant, from Latin cantus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɑ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

chant m (plural chants)

1. song
2. The discipline of singing

Synonyms

• (song): chanson

Related terms

• chanter

Further reading

• “chant” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

---

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French chant.

Noun

chant m (plural chants or chants)

1. song
   • 1552, François Rabelais, Le Tiers Livre:

     chant de Cycne est praesaige certain de sa mort prochaine

     the song of the swan is a certain prediction of its death

Descendants

• French: chant

---

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from French chant.

Noun

chant m (plural chants)

1. (Jersey) song

Synonyms

• chanson

---

Old French

Etymology

From Latin cantus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃãnt/
• Rhymes: -ãnt

Noun

chant m (oblique plural chanz or chantz, nominative singular chanz or chantz, nominative plural chant)

1. song
   • circa 1150, Thomas d'Angleterre, Le Roman de Tristan, page 104 (of the Champion Classiques edition, →ISBN, line 1027:

     car sun chant signefie mort

     for his song signifies death

Synonyms

• chançon

Descendants

• Middle French: chant
  • French: chant

---

Romansch

Verb

chant

1. first-person singular present indicative of chantar

---

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /χant/

Noun

chant

1. Aspirate mutation of cant.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cant	gant	nghant	chant
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.