choreography

Etymology

It is borrowed from French chorégraphie (“written notation of dance”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a word first used in 1700 by Raoul-Auger Feuillet in his “La chorégraphie”,^[2] formed from Ancient Greek χορεία (khoreía, “dance, choral dance”),^[2][3][4][7] from χορός (khorós, “dance, chorus”),^[6][4][8] and the French suffix -graphie, -graphy, from γράφω (gráphō, “to write”).^[2][5][7] The early English form was choregraphy; the present spelling was remodelled after other words ending in -ography, like choréographie (1771).^[2][4] The Greek word for dance also gave Latin chorea, the source of chorea, the name of several disorders of the muscles, and its base khorós is the source of chorus and choir.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The art of writing down the steps and movements of a dance in a notation, or the notation itself: first recorded in 1717, in a translation of Frézier's Voyage to the South-Sea.^[2][9] Barnhart and Etymonline date the word to 1789.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The French word meant dance notation first, and only from 1836 the art of creating ballets or arranging the steps of a dance.^[2] English followed: "the art of dancing" from 1840, soon obsolete, then the art of designing dances;^[2][9] from 1845 the set sequence of steps in a dance, or a dance routine.^[2] The sense of notation is now rare and historical.^[2] In the 20th century the word was extended to any carefully planned coordination of people or events, as in political or diplomatic choreography (1948), and to sequences of movements other than dancing, such as fights or sports plays (1951).^[2] The verb choreograph, from 1943, is American, probably from chorégraphier or a back-formation from the noun, and choreographer is recorded from 1886.^[4]

Timeline

• 1717 – the notation of dance steps.^[2]
• 1789 – first record in Barnhart and Etymonline.^[4][5]
• 1840 – the art of dancing (obsolete); later, the art of designing dances.^[2]
• 1845 – the steps of a particular dance; a dance routine.^[2]
• 1886 – choreographer.^[4]
• 1943 – the verb choreograph, in American English.^[4]
• 1948 – the planned coordination of people or events.^[2]
• 1951 – a planned sequence of movements other than dance.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The art of composing and arranging the steps and movements of dances, especially for ballet or the stage.^[10][11][2]
2. The steps and movements of a particular dance or routine: The show's choreography was praised by every critic.^[10][2]
3. The careful planning and coordination of a series of actions or events: the choreography of the state visit.^[2]
4. A planned sequence of movements other than dancing, as in a fight scene.^[2]
5. The written notation of dance steps.^{[10][11][2][9]}
6. Dancing, especially stage dancing.^[11][10]

Word family

• choreographic
• choreographically
• choreograph
• choreographer

Related words

• chorus
• choir
• chorea
• choral
• graph

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster