métèque

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French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin metoecus, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek μέτοικος (métoikos).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /me.tɛk/
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

métèque m or f by sense (plural métèques)

  1. (historical) metic (resident alien who did not have the rights of a citizen and who paid a tax for the right to live there)
  2. (derogatory) wop, sinister foreigner
    • 1969, “Le Métèque”, in Georges Moustaki (lyrics), Le Métèque, performed by Georges Moustaki:
      Avec ma gueule de métèque / De juif errant, de pâtre grec / Et mes cheveux aux quatre vents
      With my woggish face / Like a wandering Jew's, or a Greek shepherd's / And my windswept hair

Descendants

  • Romanian: metec

Further reading