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mèche. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
mèche, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
mèche in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
mèche you have here. The definition of the word
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French
Etymology 1
Inherited from Old French mesche, via Late Latin *micca or Vulgar Latin *mysca, alteration of Latin myxa (“sebesten tree”).
Pronunciation
Noun
mèche f (plural mèches)
- wick (of candle)
- fuse (of a bomb)
- lock, tuft (of hair); streak (of colour, etc., in hair)
1829, Victor Hugo, Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné, section XLVIII:Mes cheveux, coupés au hasard, tombaient par mèches sur mes épaules, et l’homme en chapeua à trois cornes les époussetait doucement avec sa grosse main.- My hair, cut at random, fell in clumps on to my shoulders, and the man in the tricorn hat brushed them away softly with his fat hand.
- (medicine) packing
- drill bit
- (music, lutherie, bowmaking) hair
- cracker, popper, snapper (string tied to the end of a whip)
- (nautical) rudderpost, (rudder) post
Derived terms
Descendants
Etymology 2
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
mèche f (plural mèches)
- (Louisiana, Cajun) marsh
Further reading
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French mèche.
Pronunciation
Noun
mèche f (invariable)
- streak (in the hair)
Further reading
- mèche in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana