You've probably already spotted the "farce" in farceur. But although farceur can now refer to someone who performs or composes farce, it began life as a word for someone who is simply known for cracking jokes. Appropriately, farceur derives via Modern French from the Middle French farcer, meaning "to joke." If you think of farce as a composition of ridiculous humor with a "stuffed" or contrived plot, then it should not surprise you that farce originally meant "forcemeat"—seasoned meat used for a stuffing—and that both farce and farceur can be ultimately traced back to the Latin verb farcire, meaning "to stuff."
a knockabout comedy that was performed by a trio of accomplished farceurs
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This rude farceur is truer to the era — more psychically revealing — than do-gooder social-justice filmmakers.—Armond White, National Review, 23 July 2021 On the other hand, farceurs and satirists have always focused on power — without regard to deserving — and thus these genres have always functioned as safety valves and indicators of a free society.—Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 19 June 2019 Both stars are enthusiastic farceurs, which almost but not quite gets you past the essential stupidity/criminality of the setup.—Ty Burr, BostonGlobe.com, 3 May 2018 Vulgar, old-fashioned, and paralytically funny, performed by a big cast of expert farceurs.—Philly.com, 17 Sep. 2017 The work has been seen before (the cast was different but the reviews were mixed), and its author reportedly is revising extensively for Broadway with the help of his highly experienced farceur-director, Jerry Zaks.—Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 7 Sep. 2017 Big, vulgar, a little old-fashioned, and paralytically funny, with expert farceurs galore.—Philly.com, 22 Oct. 2017 Reviewing an early Georges Feydeau comedy, a droll critic predicted that this master farceur would go mad and end his days in an asylum.—Mike Fischer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1 July 2017
Word History
Etymology
French, from Middle French, from farcer to joke, from Old French, from farce
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