raconteur

/ˈrɑˈkɑnˌtʌr/

/rækɒnˈtʊə/

Other forms: raconteurs

Raconteurs are gifted storytellers, able to spin amusing tales from everyday life. Who is the biggest raconteur in your group? He or she's the one who always tells the best stories — or jumps in when another storyteller isn't being vivid enough.

Do you make going to the store to buy groceries a fascinating experience? Do you offer witty observations of the people you pass on the street? If so, you're a raconteur, someone who can regale his or her listeners with riveting stories, usually funny, sometimes dramatic. Raconteur comes from the French word "raconter," meaning "to recount." Note its "eur" ending, signaling its French origin.

Definitions of raconteur

1. noun

   a person skilled in telling anecdotes
   synonyms: anecdotist

   examples:

   Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Munchhausen

   German raconteur who told preposterous stories about his adventures as a soldier and hunter; his name is now associated with any telling of exaggerated stories or winning lies (1720-1797)

   type of:

   narrator, storyteller, teller

   someone who tells a story