. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
you have here. The definition of the word
will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Standard pairs
Both terms are (almost) a direct match etymologically speaking (minimal analogical alteration in the inherited term), and (at least somewhat) common in standard French.
Latinisms
Borrowed at different periods
Semi-learned
An inherited term was remodelled after its etymon (a process called réfection), or a borrowing was heavily Frenchified. There are many instances.
Two inherited terms?
Pairs with one obsolete, very rare or jargony term
| Latin
|
Borrowed
|
Inherited
|
| abbreviāre |
abrévier (obsolete) |
abréger
|
| aestuārium |
estuaire |
étier (jargony)
|
| antecessor |
antécesseur |
ancêtre[9]
|
| augurium |
augure |
heur[10] (obsolete)
|
| auricula |
auricule (jargony) |
oreille
|
| caementum |
cément (jargony) |
ciment
|
| campānea |
campagne |
champagne f (“expanse of flat, cultivated earth”) (jargony)
|
| canthus |
canthus (jargony) |
chant (jargony)
|
| capitulum |
capitule (jargony) |
chapitre
|
| cathedra[11] |
cathèdre (archaic, rare) |
chaise
|
| cippus |
cippe (jargony) |
cep
|
| coctiō |
coction (rare)[12] |
cuisson
|
| cōgitāre |
cogiter |
cuider[13] (obsolete)
|
| collocāre |
colloquer (archaic, rare) |
coucher
|
| constāre |
conster (obsolete) |
coûter
|
| conventus |
convent (archaic, rare) |
couvent
|
| cōpula |
copule (jargony) |
couple
|
| cōpulāre |
copuler |
coupler (rare, jargony)
|
| dēnārius |
dénaire (rare, jargony) |
denier
|
| despectus |
despect (obsolete, rare) |
dépit
|
| dormītōrium |
dormitoire (archaic) |
dortoir
|
| encaustum |
encauste (jargony) |
encre
|
| exprimere |
exprimer |
épreindre (archaic, rare)
|
| exsūcāre |
essucquer (obsolete, jargony) |
essuyer
|
| fistula |
fistule |
felle (archaic, jargony), fêle
|
| flagellum |
flagelle (jargony) |
fléau
|
| flēbilis |
flébile (rare, literary) |
faible
|
| frātria[14] |
fratrie |
frairie (archaic)
|
| gaudēre |
gaudir (obsolete) |
jouir
|
| imprimere |
imprimer |
empreindre[15] (archaic)
|
| incantāre |
incanter (rare) |
enchanter
|
| lābrum |
labre (jargony) |
lèvre
|
| lāicus[16] |
laïc |
lai (obsolete)
|
| lāmina |
lamine (jargony) |
lame
|
| Lazarus |
Lazare |
ladre (archaic)
|
| lenticula |
lenticule (jargony) |
lentille
|
| macula |
macule (rare, jargony) |
maille
|
| mensa |
mense (archaic, rare) |
moise (jargony)
|
| minūtia |
minutie |
menuise (archaic)
|
| monastērium[17] |
monastère |
moutier (obsolete)
|
| nāvicella |
navicelle (jargony) |
nacelle
|
| nitidus |
nitide (rare) |
net
|
| oblāta |
oblat (jargony) |
oublie (archaic, jargony)
|
| operārī |
opérer |
ouvrer (archaic, jargony or literary)[18]
|
| operārius |
opéraire (rare, jargony) |
ouvrier
|
| ossifragus |
ossifrage (jargony) |
orfraie
|
| ostiārius |
ostiaire (jargony) |
huissier
|
| perīculōsus |
périculeux (rare) |
périlleux
|
| praestāre |
prester (regional) |
prêter
|
| quadrātum |
cadrat (jargony) |
carré
|
| racēmus |
racème (jargony) |
raisin[19]
|
| rāsus |
ras[20] |
rez[21]
|
| rota |
rote (jargony) |
roue
|
| rotundus |
rotond[22] (archaic, rare) |
rond
|
| signum |
signe |
seing (archaic, literary)
|
| sinistre |
sinistre |
senestre (jargony, literary)
|
| scūtārius |
scutaire (jargony) |
écuyer
|
| spatha[23] |
spathe (jargony, rare) |
épée
|
| strangulāre |
stranguler (rare) |
étrangler
|
| symphōnia[24] |
symphonie |
chifonie (jargony)
|
| tegula |
tégule (jargony) |
tuile
|
| tepidus |
tépide (archaic, rare) |
tiède
|
| transversus |
transverse (jargony) |
travers
|
| tremulāre |
trémuler (literary, rare) |
trembler
|
| verecundia |
vérécondie (obsolete) |
vergogne
|
| vigilia |
vigile (archaic) |
veille
|
Latinisms
Latinisms, also called unadapted borrowings, most of them are scientific terms.
Hellenisms
Obsolete
Middle French
Middle French had an inherited term, completely replaced by a borrowed one in Modern French. These are very numerous.
Middle French had a borrowed term which didn't survive
Old French
Old French had an inherited term, completely replaced by a borrowed one in Modern French. These are very numerous.
Borderline cases
Too much analogy in the inherited term (change of prefix or suffix, conflation with other words, etc.) for it to be a real doublet.
Partial correspondences
- One is borrowed, the other inherited
- Both are inherited
Latinisms
Subjective case/Objective case
Old French 1
>> OUTSIDE OF SCOPE
The inherited terms in Modern French usually come from the objective case, which was longer. For a few words however, the subjective case was kept.
Old French 2
>> OUTSIDE OF SCOPE
Useless, but funny.
From spelling variants to doublets
Formed in French.
From variants to doublets
French participles
Slightly outside of scope.
Borrowings from Dutch
Dialectal loans
For some of these, a process that was originally dialectal became temporarily productive in central French due to limited analogy—this was the case with devoicing of the final palatals, as Mazzola notes.
Borrowings from English
A fair amount of them are reborrowings (i.e. the English term was borrowed from French or Old French).
Borrowings from Italian
Some of them are unadapted borrowings. The musical terms especially could be seen as instances of code-switching rather than plain French terms; some of them are reborrowings from French anyway.
Borrowings from Occitan or Provençal
Borrowings from Portuguese
Borrowings from Spanish
More than two
Triplets
Quadruplets
Quintuplets
False doublets
One or both of the terms doesn't directly come from the Latin term, but was formed (*) in French or in the language from which it was borrowed.
Derived terms of doublets built identically
See also
- ^ Compare Old French arteil.
- ^ From earlier roide, originally the feminine form of Old French roit.
- ^ Also similāre.
- ^ A metathetic form of Old French temprer.
- ^ Still found in the toponym Montheu.
- ^ Altered after chef.
- ^ Altered after the inherited form enduire.
- ^ See also damoiselle.
- ^ From the nominative case.
- ^ Still found in the compounds bonheur and malheur.
- ^ From Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra).
- ^ The prefixed word décoction is much more common.
- ^ Still found in outrecuidance.
- ^ From Ancient Greek φρατρία (phratría).
- ^ Still found as the nominalised past participle empreinte.
- ^ From Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós).
- ^ From Ancient Greek μοναστήριον (monastḗrion).
- ^ Still found in the derived terms ouvrable, ouvrage and ouvrier. See also œuvrer, an analogical form built on œuvre.
- ^ From Vulgar Latin *racīmus.
- ^ Chiefly found in prepositional phrases such as à ras bord.
- ^ Exclusively found in rez-de-chaussée.
- ^ See also the nominalised feminine rotonde, a borrowing from Italian.
- ^ From Ancient Greek σπάθη (spáthē).
- ^ From Ancient Greek συμφωνία (sumphōnía).
- ^ Found almost exclusively in the phrase for intérieur in Modern French.
- ^ Found exclusively in the phrase au fur et à mesure in Modern French.
- ^ Still found in the deverbal repaire.
- ^ Still found in maussade.
- ^ Still found in ravitailler.
- ^ Only found in the phrase eau régale in Modern French.
- ^ Compare Old French cueudre.
- ^ Compare Old French deel.
- ^ Compare Old French esrachier.
- ^ Compare Old French feel.
- ^ Compare Old French entir.
- ^ Compare Old French netun.
- ^ Compare Old French papir.
- ^ Compare Old French poitral.
- ^ From ventōsa .
- ^ Vulgar Latin *corna.
- ^ Borrowing.
- ^ Semi-learned form.
- ^ Borrowed from Old Occitan trobador, while trouvère is a proper French word. The Old French form of the oblique case is troveor, whence perhaps French trouveur (unless it was coined in French).
- ^ Classical Latin pictor.
- ^ Also dissimilated Vulgar Latin devisāre.
- ^ Medieval Latin rollus.
- ^ Unattested? Supine torsum found in Priscian; usual tortus.
- ^ From a Southern Italian variant of umiltà.
- ^ Medieval; compare Classical carduus.
- ^ Undoubtedly comes from the Latin word, but exact path unknown. See also cargaison.
- ^ From Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos).
- ^ See also fromage.
- ^ From Ancient Greek πρεσβύτερος (presbúteros).
- ^ However, see caldarium.
- ^ Vulgar Latin *colobra.
- ^ Old French faitis.
- ^ See also Middle French poiser.
- ^ From Medieval Latin quitus
- ^ Latin ancora.
- ^ Latin cithara.
- ^ See also the diminutive capsula, borrowed as capsule.
- ^ Borrowing from the feminine benedīcta
- ^ There are several Latin forms: phalanx, phalanga, palanga, palanca (hypercorrect).
- ^ Borrowing with partial Frenchification.
Bibliography