emcee

English

Etymology

Pronunciation spelling of MC (“master of ceremonies”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĕm'sē', IPA^(key): /ˌɛmˈsiː/
• Rhymes: -iː

Noun

emcee (plural emcees)

1. Alternative form of MC in its senses as
   1. Master of ceremonies.
      • 1943, "Franklin W. Dixon" (Charles Leslie McFarlane), Hardy Boys 22: The Flickering Torch Mystery:

        "I'm the emcee for tonight," he proclaimed. "I'll announce your program."

   2. (music) A rapper.
      • 2021, Jehnie I. Burns, Mixtape Nostalgia: Culture, Memory, and Representation (page 138)

        […] mutating into all-star line-ups of emcees spitting hot bars over familiar beats, then to a single crew spitting bars over familiar beats, then eventually to a single crew (or artist) spitting bars over unfamiliar beats.

Verb

emcee (third-person singular simple present emcees, present participle emceeing, simple past and past participle emceed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To act as the master of ceremonies (for).
   • 1965 August, Mississippi Phil Ochs, “The Newport Fuzz Festival”, in The Realist‎^[1], number 61, retrieved 2022-11-13, page 11:

     Alan Lomax was emceeing the blues workshop and was turned off by the Paul Butterfield Jug Band and implied as much on stage.

2. (intransitive, music) To rap as part of a hip-hop performance.

Synonyms

• (act as the master of ceremonies): compere (UK)
• (rap): See rap

Translations

act as the master of ceremonies

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 主持 (zh) (zhǔchí)

• Finnish: juontaa (fi)
• French: maître de cérémonie (fr) m, maîtresse de cérémonie (fr) f, MC (fr) (anglicism)
• German: moderieren (de), ansagen (de), vorstellen (de), einführen (de)
• Polish: emce m

See also

• hip-hop
• rap

Anagrams

• Meece