farceur

American  

[fahr-sur, far-sœr] / fɑrˈsɜr, farˈsœr /

noun

• farceurs
  plural

1. a writer or director of or actor in farce.

2. a joker; wag.

---

farceur British  

/ farsœr /

noun

1. a writer of or performer in farces

2. a joker

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• farceuse
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• farceurs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of farceur

1775–85; < French, Middle French, equivalent to farc ( er ) to joke, banter (derivative of farce farce ) + -eur -eur

Explanation

A farceur is a comedian or jokester, especially one whose specialty is broad, satirical comedy. Your teacher may call you the class clown, but you can insist on being known as the farceur of the freshman class. Use this word for anyone who really makes you laugh, as well as people who write or perform hilariously clever spoofs and satires. Farceur is derived from the French farce, "comic interlude in a play," or literally "stuffing," and its root, farcire, "to stuff or cram."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

farceur farceurs

They’re all presented on the page by an inspired farceur whose exquisitely penned prose seems effortless, but belies the painstaking craftsmanship needed to make his split-second timing come off.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2025

He began as the disillusioned farceur of “Roger & Me,” in 1989.

From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2020

What might life be like in a country helmed by a genuinely funny comedian, rather than a farceur?

From The Guardian ● Aug. 25, 2019

Andrew Sachs, a seasoned farceur who portrayed the diminutive, dunderheaded and much-abused Spanish waiter Manuel on “Fawlty Towers,” widely regarded as one of the best sitcoms of all time, died Nov. 23 in London.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2016

He would have given far more than thirty dollars a month for this drama; for he was not only rich, but a great farceur.

From Balcony Stories by Grace E. King

In Larissa FastHorse’s “The Thanksgiving Play,” which opened on Monday at Playwrights Horizons, the familiar, whitewashed story of Pilgrims and Native Americans chowing down together gets a delicious roasting from expert farceurs.

From New York Times ● Nov. 6, 2018

I mean the sort of tickling administered by a team of master farceurs who frisk you into a state of sustained laughter, as involuntary and contented as the purr of a kitten at play.

From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2018

The movie also provides solid evidence that at least two gifted farceurs can display emotional range well beyond the demands of a Lorne Michaels’ skit-com.

From Time ● Sep. 9, 2014

One wonders what American farceurs would make of Richard Bean's adapted script, and I feel assured that some enterprising Seattle theater will have a go at it.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 7, 2012

These people range under the generic head Charlatanerie, as of the distinct species classified as farceurs according to the French nomenclature.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 334, August 1843 by Various