memoir

English

Etymology

From French mémoire (“memoir”), from Latin memoria (“memory”). Doublet of memoria and memory.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛmˌwɑː/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛmˌwɑɹ/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛmˌɔɪəɹ/, /ˈmɛmˌwɔːɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mem‧oir

Noun

memoir (plural memoirs)

1. An autobiography; a book describing the personal experiences of an author.

   When I retire, I'm going to write my memoirs.

2. A biography; a book describing the experiences of a subject from personal knowledge of the subject or from sources with personal knowledge of the subject.

   James wrote a memoir of his grandmother shortly after she passed away.

3. Any form of narrative describing the personal experiences of a writer.

Usage notes

A memoir may differ from a simple biography or autobiography by not focusing on the author as the primary subject matter, but on people and events in the subject's life. Emphasis is placed on personal observations about external events.

The plural memoirs is often used to refer to a single work.

Related terms

• memory

Translations

book describing the personal experiences of an author

• Albanian: kujtime (sq) m pl
• Arabic: مُذَكَّرَات pl (muḏakkarāt), مُذَكِّرَات pl (muḏakkirāt)
• Armenian: հուշագրություն (hy) (hušagrutʻyun), հուշեր pl (hušer)
• Azerbaijani: xatirələr (az) pl, xatirat, memuarlar pl
• Belarusian: мемуа́ры m pl (mjemuáry), мэмуа́ры m pl (memuáry), успамі́ны m pl (uspamíny)
• Bulgarian: мемоа́ри (bg) m pl (memoári), спо́мени (bg) m pl (spómeni)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 回憶錄／回忆录 (wui⁴ jik¹ luk^6-2)

  Mandarin: 回憶錄／回忆录 (zh) (huíyìlù)

• Czech: paměti (cs) f pl, memoáry (cs) m pl
• Danish: memoirer pl, erindringer pl
• Dutch: memoires (nl) pl, gedenkschriften (nl) pl
• Estonian: mälestusteraamat, elulugu, memuaarid pl
• Finnish: muistelmat (fi) pl, muistelmateos
• French: mémoires (fr) m pl
• Georgian: მემუარი (memuari)
• German: Memoiren (de) f pl, Lebenserinnerungen f pl
• Greek: απομνημονεύματα (el) n pl (apomnimonévmata)

  Ancient: ὑπμνήματα n pl (hupmnḗmata)

• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: संस्मरण (hi) m (sansmaraṇ)
• Hungarian: memoár (hu), emlékirat (hu)
• Icelandic: endurminningabók f (book)
• Indonesian: memoar (id)
• Italian: memorie (it) f pl
• Japanese: 回想録 (ja) (かいそうろく, kaisōroku), 回顧録 (かいころく, kaikoroku)
• Kazakh: естелікнама (estelıknama)
• Korean: 회상록(回想錄) (ko) (hoesangnok), 회고록(回顧錄) (ko) (hoegorok)
• Kyrgyz: мемуарлар pl (memuarlar)
• Lao: ບັນທຶກຄວາມຊົງຈຳ (lo) (ban thưk khuām song cham)
• Latvian: memuāri (lv) pl
• Lithuanian: memuarai m pl, atsiminimai m pl
• Macedonian: мемоа́р m (memoár)
• Malay: memoir
• Maori: kupu whakamahara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: (memoirs) memoarer pl

  Nynorsk: (memoirs) memoarar pl

• Persian: خاطِرات (fa) pl (xâterât), شَرح‌حال (fa) (šarx-e-xâl), یادداشت (fa) (yâddâšt)
• Plautdietsch: Denkjschreft f
• Polish: pamiętnik (pl) m
• Portuguese: memória (pt) f
• Romanian: memorii n pl
• Russian: мемуа́ры (ru) m pl (memuáry), воспомина́ния (ru) n pl (vospominánija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мемо̀а̄р m

  Roman: memòār (sh) m

• Slovak: memoáre m pl, pamäti pl
• Slovene: memoari m pl, spomini m pl
• Spanish: memoria (es) f
• Swahili: kumbukumbu (sw)
• Swedish: minne (sv) n, memoarer (sv) c pl
• Tagalog: talang-gunita, talanggunita, talang-alaala
• Tajik: ёддошт (yoddošt), ёддоштҳо pl (yoddoštho), хотирот pl (xotirot)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: hatırat (tr), andaç (tr), anı (tr)
• Ukrainian: мемуа́ри m pl (memuáry), спо́мини m pl (spómyny), спо́гади m pl (spóhady), па́м'ятник m (pámʺjatnyk) (regional), записки́ n pl (zapyský)
• Urdu: یادداشْت (ur) (yāddāśt)
• Uzbek: memuarlar (uz) pl, xotiralar (uz) pl
• Vietnamese: hồi ký (vi) (回記), luận văn (vi) (論文)
• Yiddish: מעמואַרן f pl (memuarn)

any form of narrative describing the personal experiences of a writer

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: muistelma
• Kazakh: ғұмырнама (ğūmyrnama), өмірбаян (kk) (ömırbaän)
• Maori: kupu whakamahara
• Russian: мемуа́ры (ru) m pl (memuáry)
• Turkish: hatırat (tr), andaç (tr)
• Vietnamese: truyện ký (vi) (傳記)

References

• “memoir”, in Collins English Dictionary; from Michael Agnes, editor, Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th edition, Cleveland, Oh.: Wiley, 2010, →ISBN.
• “memoir”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “memoir”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “memoir”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Memoir” in John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary […] , London: Sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinſon, Paternoſter Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1791, →OCLC, page 341, column 2.
• Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎^[1], volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 10.571, page 304.

Further reading

• memoir on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “memoir”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• momier