french
/fɹɛnt͡ʃ/ verb, proper noun, noun, adjective
Forms frenches frenching frenched Frencher Frenchest
- verb (transitive) To prepare food by cutting it into strips.
- verb (transitive) To kiss (another person) while inserting one’s tongue into the other person's mouth.
- verb (intransitive) To kiss in this manner.
- verb (cooking) To French trim; to stylishly expose bone by removing the fat and meat covering it (as done to a rack of lamb or bone-in rib-eye steak).
- proper noun (chiefly uncountable) The language of France, shared by the neighboring countries Belgium, Monaco, and Switzerland and by former French colonies around the world. “She speaks French.”
- proper noun (uncountable) The ability of a person to communicate in French. “My French is a little rusty.”
- proper noun (uncountable) French language and literature as an object of study. “I'm taking French next semester.”
- proper noun (uncountable, euphemistic, now often ironic) Vulgar language. “Pardon my French.”
- proper noun (countable) A surname originating as an ethnonym. “Dawn French.”
- noun (chiefly collective and in the plural) The people of France; groups of French people. “The Hundred Years' War was fought between the English and the French.”
- noun (uncountable, dated slang, sex) Synonym of oral sex, especially fellatio.
- noun (countable, non-native speakers' English) A French person.
- adjective Of or relating to France. “the French border with Italy”
- adjective Of or relating to the people or culture of France. “French customs”
- adjective Of or relating to the French language. “French verbs”
- adjective (slang, sexuality) Of or related to oral sex, especially fellatio. “French active”
- adjective (informal, often euphemistic) Used to form names or references to venereal diseases. “French disease”
- adjective Used to form names or references to an unconventional or fancy style. “French curve”
Synonyms
French kiss mul:fr mul:fre oral sex Gallian Gallic Gaulish French people Daniel Chester French
Etymology
From Middle English French, Frensch, Frensh, from Old English Frencisc (“of the Franks, Frankish, French”), from Franca (“a Frank”). Compare Old High German Franko (“a Frank”), akin to Old English franca (“javelin, spear”), from the use of such weapons by the Franks.
Inherited from Middle English Frenche, Frensch, Frensc, Frenshe, Frenk, Franche, from Old English Frenċisċ (“Frankish, French”), from Proto-West Germanic *Frankisk (“Frankish”), equivalent to Frank + -ish (compare Frankish). Cognate with Middle Low German vranksch, frenkisch, vrenkesch, vrenksch (“Frankish, French”), Middle High German vrenkisch, vrensch ("Frankish, Franconian; > German fränkisch (“Frankish, Franconian”)), Danish fransk (“French”), Swedish fransk, fransysk (“French”), Icelandic franska (“French”).
Doublet of Frankish; piecewise doublet of Francis, Franz, and Francisco, which are derived from Late Latin Franciscus
In reference to vulgar language, from expressions such as pardon my French in the early 19th century, originally in reference to actual (but often mildly impolite) French expressions by the upper class, subsequently adopted ironically by the lower class for English curse words under the charitable conceit that the listener would not be familiar with them.
In reference to vermouth, a shortened form of French vermouth, distinguished as usually being drier than Italian vermouth.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Of or pertaining to France or its inhabitants. French bean (Bot.), the common kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).
- noun The language spoken in France.
- noun Collectively, the people of France.
Etymology [AS. frencisc, LL. franciscus, from L. Francus a Frank: cf. OF. franceis, franchois, fran, F. franFrank, a., and cf. Frankish.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “french”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details