rococo English · revision 823

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɹəˈkəʊkəʊ/ ''(UK)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|rococo]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Hoad 1986) apparently a playful alteration of [[fr|rocaille|t=pebble-work, shellwork]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Hoad 1986) from ''roc'', ''roche'' “rock”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from Vulgar Latin ''*rocca''.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) Barnhart suggests a humorous substitution of French ''coco'', as in ''cocorico'' “cock-a-doodle-doo”.^(Barnhart 1995) The reference is probably to the lavish use of shell designs in the style.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As an adjective, old-fashioned or antiquated, with reference to the rococo style (1836).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1841 the adjective described furniture and architecture of the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, with conventional shell and scroll work and lavish ornament.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) The noun, the style itself, dates from 1840.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) The general sense “tastelessly florid or ornate” is recorded from 1844,^(Etymonline) and the word came to be used, sometimes contemptuously, of anything over-elaborate in art or literature.^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) It is also applied to a light, highly ornamented musical style of the mid-18th century that followed the baroque.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1836 – adjective, old-fashioned.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1840 – noun, the rococo style.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1841 – of 18th-century French furniture and architecture.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1844 – tastelessly florid.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1876 – a piece of rococo work.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A style of art and especially architecture and decoration, originating in France in the early 18th century from the [[baroque]], marked by elegant, fanciful curves and elaborate ornament of [[scroll|alt=scrolls]], shellwork and foliage.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A style of 18th-century music following the baroque, characterized by lightness and elaborate [[ornamentation]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+ # A very ornate style of speech or writing.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or relating to the rococo.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Excessively ornate, elaborate or intricate.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Old-fashioned.^(Wiktionary)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[barococo]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rock]]

+ * [[rocaille]]

+ * [[baroque]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}