pègre

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French

Etymology

Uncertain, perhaps related to Latin picāre (to smear with pitch).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɛɡʁ/
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

pègre f (plural pègres)

  1. underworld, mob (part of society that is engaged in crime or vice)
    • 1862, Victor Hugo, chapter 1, in Les Misérables, Tome IV : L’idylle rue Plumet et l’épopée rue Saint-Denis, book 7:
      La langue qu’on emploie à bord, cette admirable langue de la mer, [] est tout un argot héroïque et éclatant qui est au farouche argot de la pègre ce que le lion est au chacal.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading