douceur

Meaning

Noun

• Sweetness of manner: agreeableness, gentleness.
• Sweet speech: a compliment.
• A sweetener: a gift offered to sweeten another's attitude, a tip or bribe.
• A tax break provided as an inducement to sell valuable items (especially art) to public collections rather than on the open market.

Origin

• Borrowed from French douceur ("sweetness"), from Old French dolçor, dulcur, etc., from Latin dulcor + -em, from dulcis. Naturalized in Middle English but treated as a French loanword from the 17th century onward.