Etymologically
Log in

échouer

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the French word échouer

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
1559 Amyot, Lucullus More words from the 16th century

Pronunciation

Forms

échouer[1] Early spellings are eschoué (1559) and eschouer (1573); échouer is recorded from 1669.[2]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[3][4][5][1] The FEW places it among the words of unknown origin.[6][3] The GLLF says the word came to Paris from the north of Picardy, through Normandy and up the Seine valley.[2]

Several sources have been proposed, none of them accepted.[3][5] Diez proposed Latin cautēs (“rock, reef”), unlikely given how late the word appears.[3][7] The REW connects it with échoir, after its old pronunciations with /o/, but this would require a quick and systematic regrouping of forms and senses.[3][5] Gamillscheg saw an alteration of the Norman forms escouer, écouer, matching Old French escoudre, escourre (“to shake”), which supposes a learned remaking of the Norman form into the standard one.[3][5][8] Corominas proposed Vulgar Latin *exaquō (“to remove the water, to put dry”), and P. Guiraud linked it with choyer and its Old Walloon variant chouer, from Late Latin exsūcō (“to dry out”); both would require a sound development peculiar to a region that does not usually supply sailors' words.[3][5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1559, as a past participle, in Amyot's Lucullus: leurs galeres flottoient en mer, et les autres estoient appuyées et eschouées fermement contre la terre, “their galleys floated at sea, and the others were set and run aground firmly against the land”.[7][3] The sense is “to touch bottom and no longer sail”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

First said of a boat, the intransitive verb (1573) meant “to touch bottom by accident and be stuck”; in this sense the reflexive s'échouer became the more common form (1669).[5][3] Transitively it meant “to bring (a boat) up to the shore” from 1596.[3][5] By analogy it was said of a sea animal or a thing washed up on the shore (1835).[5]

At first in metaphors such as échouer sur un écueil or près du port, the verb came to mean “to fail” (1660, in the Cardinal de Retz), probably under the influence of échec.[5][3][9] Of people it also means “to end up somewhere out of weariness or by chance” (1886, Zola).[5]

Timeline

  • 1559 – Eschouées in Amyot.[3][5]
  • 1573 – The infinitive eschouer “to run aground” in Du Puys' dictionary.[3][2]
  • 1596 – Transitive sense “to beach a boat”, in Hulsius.[3]
  • 1626 – The derivative échouement appears.[5]
  • 1660 – “To fail”, in the Cardinal de Retz.[3][5]
  • 1669 – The reflexive s'échouer.[5]
  • 1674 – The derivative échouage appears.[5][4]
  • 1835 – Said of a sea animal washed ashore.[5]
  • 1886 – Zola uses it for “to end up (somewhere)”.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (of a ship) To touch bottom and be stopped, to run aground; usually s'échouer: Le cargo s'est échoué sur un banc de sable.[9][7]
  2. To be washed up on the shore: Un dauphin a échoué sur la plage.[9][5]
  3. (figurative) To end up somewhere out of weariness or by chance: Ils ont échoué dans un café de la gare.[9][5]
  4. To fail: échouer à un examen; of things, to come to nothing, to miscarry: faire échouer un projet.[9][1]
  5. (transitive) To bring (a boat) up to the shore, to beach it.[9][3]

Word family

  • échouage
  • échouement

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 23, 109b
  7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Échouer.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/%C3%A9chouer. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·