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épi

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Etymology and origin of the French word épi

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1170 Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Chronique des ducs de Normandie More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin spicum via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin spīca

Pronunciation

Forms

épi m (plural épis)[1] Old French espi; the spelling épi is recorded in 1636.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French espi, inherited from Latin spīcum, a variant of Classical spīca (“point, ear of grain”).[4][2][5][1] Rey compares the Latin word with spīna, but notes that it has no other known relative.[2]

Cognate with Italian spiga, Spanish espiga and Old Occitan espiga, also espic.[5][6] Bloch and Wartburg note that the eastern and southern Gallo-Romance dialects have feminine forms.[5] It is a doublet of aspic.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Benoît de Sainte-Maure has espi about 1170, for the ear of grain at the top of the stalk.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides the ear of grain, the word came to name things that recall an ear by shape or arrangement: a pointed ornament at the top of a roof (1451), a tuft of hair growing against the rest (1835, earlier, in 1679, of a horse's forehead) and a branch track of a railway (1930).[2][4][3] Nicot in 1606 already speaks of a dog's tail with hair arranged like an ear.[4] The botanical sense of an inflorescence along a long axis is recorded in 1701, in Furetière.[4][2]

En épi means “at a slant”, as in parking.[2][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1170 – Espi appears in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's chronicle.[4]
  • 1451 – It names a pointed ornament on a roof.[4][2]
  • 1606 – Nicot uses it of hair arranged like an ear.[4]
  • 1679 – Richelet uses it for a whorl of hair on a horse's forehead.[4]
  • 1701 – Furetière records the botanical sense.[4]
  • 1835 – It names a tuft of human hair growing the wrong way.[2][3]
  • 1930 – It names a branch track of a railway.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The ear or spike of grain at the top of the stalk of wheat, barley, maize and other grasses.[7][8]
  2. (botany) A spike: an inflorescence whose flowers grow without stalks along a long axis.[7][4][8]
  3. A tuft of hair growing against the rest; a cowlick.[7][8][1]
  4. (building) An ornament on the ridge of a roof; a finial.[7][4]
  5. En épi: arranged at a slant.[7][2]
  6. (Louisiana) A corncob.[1]

Word family

  • épillet

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Épi.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/%C3%A9pi. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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