2 syllables: Crève, coeur. Stress on Crève.
KREV-kurr
/ˈkɹɛv.kɜɹ/
Crèvecoeur is pronounced KREV-kurr (/ˈkɹɛv.kɜɹ/). It has two syllables (Crève-coeur), with the stress on "Crève". Crèvecoeur (noun) is a French term meaning someone who is heartbroken or emotionally stricken; it can also refer to a person from the Crèvecoeur family or a place name. In literary and historical contexts, it often connotes a strong, romantic-tinged distress. Usage tends toward formal, literary registers or biographical/historical writing in Anglophone contexts.
nounCrèvecoeur (noun) is a French term meaning someone who is heartbroken or emotionally stricken; it can also refer to a person from the Crèvecoeur family or a place name. In literary and historical contexts, it often connotes a strong, romantic-tinged distress. Usage tends toward formal, literary registers or biographical/historical writing in Anglophone contexts.
How to Pronounce Crèvecoeur
"The poet spoke of a crèvecoeur that lingered long after the farewell."
"In her diary, she described a crèvecoeur that colored every memory of the old country."
"The painting captures a crèvecoeur of exile, etched into the subject’sExpression and posture."
Pronounce as creev-kur, with the French vowels: the first syllable crè- rhymes with ‘cré’ in créme; the e after è is a short open e [ɛ], and the final -œur renders a mid back rounded vowel [ø] or [ə], followed by a French rs-like rhotic. Stress falls on the first syllable: CRÈ-ve-coeur. IPA (French approximation): /kʁɛv.kœʁ/. In Anglicized readings you may hear /krevˈkɜːr/ or /ˈkriːv.kɔːr/ depending on the reader.
Common errors include treating -œu r as a simple ‘oo’ sound; misplacing the French r; and stressing the wrong syllable. Correction: produce the first syllable with a clear open-mid front vowel [ɛ], followed by the rounded back vowel [œ] before the final French r [ʁ]. Keep the final r lightly pronounced, not silent, and avoid anglicizing to /-oo-ur/. Practice the sequence crè-v-e-coeur with gentle, French-like rhythm.
In French, /kʁɛv.køʁ/ with a uvular /ʁ/ and rounded /ø/. In US/UK readings, you’ll often hear /ˈkrevɪˌkoʊ/ or /ˈkriːvəkɔːr/, with simplified vowels and a post-tonic American r. Australian speakers usually upweight the final syllable and may convert /œ/ to /oʊ/ or /ə/. The main differences are the rhoticity and the vowel quality before /ʁ/; in non-French renderings, the first syllable tends to carry the primary stress and vowels simplify toward familiar English vowels.
Its difficulty stems from the French fronted open-mid vowel [ɛ] in crè-, the rounded mid-back vowel [ø] in cœur, and the French uvular trill or fricative /ʁ/. The consonant cluster /kʁ/ blends with a tense, rounded vowel, and the final -œur can be challenging due to its mid back rounded vowel and non-English spelling. Additionally, the overall prosody and syllable count demand careful timing and a French-like mouth shape.
Yes, Crèvecoeur ends with -œur, where the final vowel is a rounded mid back vowel plus a French 'r' sound. In French pronunciation, you would articulate a vowel like [ø] or [œ] followed by a pronounced [ʁ]. In anglicized readings, the final may sound like -or or -œur without the rounded French vowel, so you’ll often hear /-koʊər/ or /-kɜːr/, depending on the reader. The key is to keep the final syllable lightly pronounced—not silent.
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Crèvecoeur comes from the French phrase crever le cœur, literally 'to break the heart.' The verb crever means 'to burst,' 'to bleed,' or 'to die' in colloquial use, and cœur means 'heart.' In older French usage, the term signified a vivid, emotionally devastating blow, often tied to romantic or existential distress. The word entered French literary usage in the 17th-18th centuries as a figurative expression of overwhelming sorrow. In English-language scholarship and translation, Crèvecoeur has appeared sporadically, sometimes anglicized with diacritics preserved to signal its French origin. It is also encountered as a proper noun in surnames and geographic names (e.g., Crèvecoeur-en-Auge). First known uses are attested in French poetry and prose, where the phrase would flourish in romantically tinged or melancholic contexts, later resonating in translation and literary criticism in the Anglophone world.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Crèvecoeur" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "Crèvecoeur"
-eer sounds
-ker sounds
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