troubadour

noun

trou·​ba·​dour ˈtrü-bə-ˌdȯr 

-ˌdu̇r

1

: one of a class of lyric poets and poet-musicians often of knightly rank who flourished from the 11th to the end of the 13th century chiefly in the south of France and the north of Italy and whose major theme was courtly love compare trouvère

2

: a singer especially of folk songs

Did you know?

In the Middle Ages, troubadours were the shining knights of poetry (in fact, some were ranked as high as knights in the feudal class structure). Troubadours made chivalry a high art, writing poems and singing about chivalrous love, creating the mystique of refined damsels, and glorifying the gallant knight on his charger. Troubadour was a fitting name for such creative artists: it derives from an Old Occitan word meaning "to compose." In modern contexts, troubadour still refers to the song-meisters of the Middle Ages, but it has been extended to cover contemporary poet-musicians as well.

Examples of troubadour in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the featurette below, premiering exclusively on Billboard, Sink is a traveling troubadour in a wasteland communicating with her music, but runs afoul of a charismatic dictator, Plutonovich, played by Bartlett. —Melinda Newman, Billboard, 17 Mar. 2025

In March, the venue offers its first full month of programming; shows include classic rock staple Journey, troubadour Jason Isbell and EDM favorite Deadmau5, among others. —Matthew Leimkuehler, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025

While Minnesota is mentioned in passing in the recent Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, the story largely takes place from the early 1960s to 1965 as the legendary troubadour rose to prominence on the New York City folk music scene. —Tim Lammers, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2025

Sons of Town Hall Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook The Sons of Town are George Ulysses Brown (Ben Parker, who’s British) and Josiah Chester Jones (David Berkeley, who’s American), 19th century vagabond troubadours. —Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 1 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

French, from Old Occitan trobador, from trobar to compose, from Vulgar Latin *tropare, from Latin tropus trope

First Known Use

circa 1741, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for troubadour

• albacore
• alongshore
• antiwar
• anymore
• blastopore
• carnivore
• commodore
• dinosaur
• evermore
• furthermore
• guarantor
• herbivore

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Kids Definition

troubadour

noun

trou·​ba·​dour ˈtrü-bə-ˌdō(ə)r 

-ˌdȯ(ə)r,

-ˌdu̇(ə)r

: a poet-musician of the Middle Ages in France and Italy