Revised as of
6 Sept 2022
A pair of heterographs, choral vs coral may sound alike but they sure don’t mean the same thing.
Choral is all about the singing, the music.
Coral I general think of as a pinkish orange, a gorgeous cheery color. I don’t generally think of coral reefs until I’m about to go diving.
You may want to explore “Carrel vs Chorale vs Corral” and/or “Choral versus Coral” as well.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
If you found this post on “Choral versus Coral” interesting, consider tweeting it to your friends. Subscribe to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| Choral | Coral |
|---|---|
Auckland Choral is Dturnernz‘s own work under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, Wikimedia Commons. |
Coral Reef at Palmyra by Jim Maragos of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is courtesy of USFWS – Pacific Region and is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adjective | Adjective; Noun
Plural for the noun: corals |
Composed for, adapted for, or sung by a choir or chorus
|
Adjective: Made of coral Making coral Resembling coral, especially in color
Noun:
A sedentary coelenterate of warm and tropical seas, with a calcareous, horny, or soft skeleton The unfertilized roe of a lobster or scallop, which is used as food and becomes reddish when cooked A reddish yellow, light yellowish red, or pinkish yellow color |
| Examples: | |
| Tomorrow evening, the Colne Valley Male Voice Choir presents a choral and solo program at St John’s Church.
Although ultra-purists sing Bach’s choral works one singer per part, Law does them with 140. I was also singing and studying the great Flemish choral music of the Renaissance. What is it about choral music sung in churches without accompaniment that is so powerful? He has also composed several choral works, including “African Sanctus”. It is in this kind of writing that she makes her most distinctive and individual mark as a composer of contemporary choral music. The Westport Choral Society is a four-part choir specializing in major choral pieces and extracts from some old and some modern musicals. |
Adjective: Shallow-water and deep-water coral reefs reveal beautiful marine life. I found these great coral beads. Coral polyps are tiny, soft-bodied organisms related to sea anemones and jellyfish” (Corals). Helen found a gorgeous coral and white dinner service. Noun: Since the beginning of the Cenozoic, reefs have become dominated by scleractinian corals and calcareous algae. She was wearing a twisted rope of coral, pearls, and crystal. The color of coral reflects the color of earth, coral, and chestnut. Most corals are colonial and many rely on the presence of green algae in their tissues to obtain energy from sunlight. We had scallops with their coral, in their fluted shells. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adverb: chorally | Adjective: coralloid Noun: corallite |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late 16th century from the medieval Latin choralis, from the Latin chorus. | Middle English via the Old French from the Latin corallum, which is from the Greek korallion, kouralion. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Choral vs Coral
Apple Dictionary
“Corals.” National Geographic. n.d. Web. 20 Nov 2020. <https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/group/corals/>.
Dictionary.com: coral
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Pueri Boys Choral Group, Czech Republic, is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay. The floor was removed in Photoshop. Cauliflower Coral, French Frigate Shoals, Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, by Mark Sullivan of the US Fish and Wildlife Services is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. The image was cropped, duplicated, and the copy was flipped horizontally.
