Repertoire
nounThe full range of works, skills, or behaviours that a person or group is able to perform or use.
How to spell repertoire
10 letters · 3 syllables
6 of the 28 people asked to spell repertoire in Spelling Garden got it wrong the first time.
How to pronounce repertoire
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does repertoire mean?
- nounThe full range of works, skills, or behaviours that a person or group is able to perform or use.
Repertoire in a sentence
-
The pianist added three new concertos to her repertoire this season.
-
A good negotiator keeps a wide repertoire of tactics for difficult meetings.
Where does repertoire come from?
Language of origin: French
This word came straight from the French répertoire, which English borrowed in the early 1800s to describe the stock of pieces a performer or company was ready to present. The French word descends from the Late Latin repertorium, meaning an inventory or catalogue, a kind of list of things kept on hand. That noun in turn was built on the Latin verb reperire, meaning 'to find' or 'to discover', formed from re- and the root that gives us parire 'to bring forth' or 'to obtain'. So at its heart a repertoire is literally a collection of things one has found and can readily produce. The same Latin family lies behind 'repertory', the more English-looking theatre term, and the French spelling is exactly why the ending lands as the tricky, near-silent 'twahr' rather than anything you would guess from English habits.
How the word is built
- reper- (from Latin reperire: to find, discover)
- -toire (French noun suffix, from Latin -torium: a place or store for)
Fix your spelling for good.
Spelling Garden finds the words you personally get wrong, plants them in a garden, and brings each one back just before you would have forgotten it.
Just five minutes a day is all it takes to fix your spelling.