Standard Lemma guide

oeuvre

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈɜːvɹə/
  • UK: /ˈuːvɹə/
  • US: /ˈuːvɹə/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: UW1 V R AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: ER1 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A work of art, music or literature.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A substantial or complete corpus of works produced by an artist, composer, or writer.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: collective, uncountable

Examples

  • the complete oeuvre of Mozart

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: body of work, corpus

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the total output of a writer or artist (or a substantial part of it)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he studied the entire Wagnerian oeuvre
  • Picasso's work can be divided into periods

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: work, body of work

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: end product, output

Narrower terms: writing

History

Etymology

From French œuvre, from Old French uevre, from Latin opera (plural of Latin opus), from Proto-Indo-European *h3ep- (“work”). Doublet of opera, opus, and ure.

Across languages

Translations

48 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: твор (tvor) — work of art
  • Chinese Mandarin: 藝術品 /艺术品 (yìshùpǐn) — work of art
  • Finnish: teos — work of art
  • Finnish: taideteos — work of art
  • French: œuvre — work of art
  • German: Œuvre — work of art
  • German: Werk — work of art
  • Hungarian: mű — work of art
  • Italian: opera — work of art
  • Norwegian: verk — work of art
  • Polish: dzieło — work of art
  • Polish: utwór — work of art
  • Portuguese: obra — work of art
  • Romansh: ovra — work of art
  • Romansh: ouvra — work of art
  • Russian: творе́ние (tvorénije) — work of art
  • Russian: труд (trud) — work of art
  • Russian: произведе́ние (proizvedénije) — work of art
  • Spanish: obra — work of art
  • Swedish: verk — work of art
  • Swedish: arbete — work of art
  • Ukrainian: твір (tvir) — work of art
  • Ukrainian: труд (trud) — work of art
  • Belarusian: тво́рчасць (tvórčascʹ) — corpus of works
  • Chinese Cantonese: (作品的)全集 (cyun4 zaap6) — corpus of works
  • Danish: forfatterskab — corpus of works
  • Dutch: oeuvre — corpus of works
  • Esperanto: verkaro — corpus of works
  • Finnish: tuotanto — corpus of works
  • French: œuvres — corpus of works
  • German: Œuvre — corpus of works
  • German: Gesamtwerk — corpus of works
  • Hungarian: életmű — corpus of works
  • Latvian: raža — corpus of works
  • Norwegian: forfatterskap — corpus of works
  • Pannonian Rusyn: творчосц (tvorčosc) — corpus of works
  • Pannonian Rusyn: творительство (tvoritelʹstvo) — corpus of works
  • Polish: twórczość — corpus of works
  • Polish: dorobek — corpus of works
  • Romansh: ovra — corpus of works
  • Romansh: ouvra — corpus of works
  • Russian: тво́рчество (tvórčestvo) — corpus of works
  • Russian: труды́ (trudý) — corpus of works
  • Spanish: obra — corpus of works
  • Spanish: producción — corpus of works
  • Spanish: literatura — corpus of works
  • Ukrainian: тво́рчість (tvórčistʹ) — corpus of works
  • Ukrainian: труди́ (trudý) — corpus of works