rococo

See also: rococó and rococò

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French rococo.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈkəʊkəʊ/
• Rhymes: -əʊkəʊ

Noun

rococo (countable and uncountable, plural rococos)

1. (uncountable) A style of baroque architecture and decorative art, from 18th-century France, having elaborate ornamentation.
2. (countable) A piece of ornamentation in this style.
   • 1896, The American Stationer, volume 40, page 793:

     Above the two chief figures are rococos on either side of the clock face. These, like all the other work, are in bold relief and wrought with great delicacy and grace. On the top of the clock is a realistic scene from nature.

   • 2021, Pedro Mairal, The Woman from Uruguay, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 41:

     The marzipan and that kind of malleable ceramic, the rococo decorations, the flowers made of hard sugar, the frosted blue surfaces, kind of gray, the pearls, the legal coloring... all of it supposedly suitable for human consumption.

Translations

style of baroque architecture etc.

• Catalan: rococó m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 洛可可 (zh) (luòkěkě)

• Czech: rokoko (cs) n
• Danish: rokoko c
• Finnish: rokokoo (fi)
• Georgian: როკოკო (roḳoḳo)
• German: Rokoko (de) n
• Hungarian: rokokó (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rokokko m

  Nynorsk: rokokko m

• Polish: rokoko (pl) n
• Portuguese: rococó (pt) m
• Russian: рококо́ (ru) n (rokokó)
• Slovene: rokoko m
• Swedish: rokoko (sv) c
• Turkish: rokoko (tr)

Adjective

rococo (comparative more rococo, superlative most rococo)

1. Of or relating to the rococo style.
2. Over-elaborate or complicated; opulent.
3. Old-fashioned.

Translations

of or relating to the rococo style

• Danish: rokoko-
• Finnish: rokokoo- (fi), rokokootyylinen
• German: Rokoko- (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rokokko-

  Nynorsk: rokokko-

• Slovene: rokokojski
• Swedish: rokoko-

over-elaborate

• Finnish: kruusattu

old-fashioned — see old-fashioned

French

A rococo cabinet, designed in 1774 by Jean-Joseph Lemaire for the future King Louis XVI.

Etymology

Undoubtedly, a word from rocaille and barroco, to denote pejoratively a "rock" style, then gone out-of-fashion; invented in 1797 by Pierre-Maurice Quays, pupil of Jacques-Louis David and firebrand of an austere neoclassical style.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɔ.kɔ.ko/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

rococo (plural rococos)

1. rococo (architectural style, all senses)
2. (abstract, derogatory) Relating to old traditions, which may be seen as foolishly outdated; archaic, old-fashioned, obsolete, backwards

Further reading

• “rococo”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.