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Raconteur Has Old French Roots
If you’re a sage of sagas, a bard of ballads, or a pro in prose, you may have lost count of the accounts you’ve recounted. Some might call you a recounter, but as a master of narrative form you may find that recounter lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. Sure, it has a cool story—it traces back to the Latin verb computere, meaning “to count”—but so do many words: compute and computer, count and account, and neither last nor least, raconteur, a singsong title better fit for a whimsical storyteller. English speakers borrowed raconteur from French in the early 19th century.
Examples of raconteur in a Sentence
Edgar Thompson, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Feb. 2026
More than a raconteur, Murch is a cinematic philosopher who frames technical issues in terms that get at the nature of perception.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2026
Also this week, George McNally, son of legendary restaurateur, memoirist and Instagram raconteur Keith McNally, will open his first restaurant.
—Li Goldstein, Bon Appetit Magazine, 5 Dec. 2025
Brower delights in talking about how researching real society raconteurs of the ‘50s, like Lee Radziwill and Oonagh Guinness, gave her the confidence to go big and bold with Hedda’s complete reorganization of the castle she’s gotten her husband to buy her.
—Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 21 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for raconteur
Cite this Entry
“Raconteur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raconteur. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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