douceur

Meanings

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

Etymology

Borrowed from French douceur (“sweetness”), from Old French dolçor, dulcur, etc., from Latin dulcōr + -em, from dulcis (“sweet”). Naturalized in Middle English as douceoure, dousour but treated as a French loanword from the 17th century onward. Doublet of dulcour.