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adresse

Etymology and origin of the French word adresse

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French adresse “address” and adresse “skill” both come from Old French adrece “direct way”, the second influenced by adroit; the dictionaries treat them as two words.[1][2][3]

adresse1 address

Confidence
Established
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1177–1179, Chrétien de Troyes

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /a.dʁɛs/[4]

Forms

adresse f (plural adresses)[4]

Etymology

It is Old French adrece (“direct way, short cut”), a back-formation from adrecier, the source of adresser,[5][2][4][6] itself from drecier (“to make straight”), from Vulgar Latin *dīrēctiāre, from dīrēctus (“straight”).[4] The political sense, a formal message to a ruler, is borrowed from English address, itself from the French word.[7][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chrétien de Troyes's Chevalier de la charrette (1177–1179) has une adresce for a straight road or short cut through a forest.[5][1]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the word meant “direction, right way” (about 1280), and in the 15th century “recourse to someone” and “indication, information”.[1][2] In the early 17th century it came to mean the place where someone can be found, as in Théophraste Renaudot's bureau d'adresses (1623), then a person's place of residence and the direction written on a letter.[1][8] The phrase à l'adresse de “aimed at” keeps the old sense of direction.[8][3]

The political sense, a message from an assembly to the king, returned from England in 1656 and spread with the Revolution (Mirabeau, 1789);[1][8] Bloch and Wartburg date this adresse to 1798.[7] In computing, adresse is a location in memory, also after English, and an adresse électronique is an email address.[1][9] In lexicography it is a headword.[9]

Timeline

  • 1177–1179 – Adresce “short cut” in Chrétien de Troyes.[5]
  • c. 1280 – “Right way, direction”.[1]
  • 1623 – Renaudot's bureau d'adresses.[1]
  • 1656 – An address to the king, after English.[1]
  • 1789 – The political adresse in Mirabeau.[1]
  • c. 1960 – Computing derivatives adresser, adressable.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An address: the place where someone lives or can be reached: partir sans laisser d'adresse, carnet d'adresses.[3][9]
  2. Une bonne adresse: a recommended shop or restaurant.[3][10]
  3. À l'adresse de: aimed at, intended for.[3][9]
  4. A formal message of an assembly to a ruler.[3][7]
  5. (computing) An address, adresse électronique: an email address.[9][4]
  6. (lexicography) A headword, entry.[9][4]

Word family

  • adresser
  • carnet d'adresses

adresse2 skill

Confidence
Established
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1547, Noël du Fail

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /a.dʁɛs/[4]

Forms

adresse f (plural adresses)[3]

Etymology

The sense “skill” comes from Old French adrece (“right direction”), hence “way of going straight to the point”, contaminated by adroit, of which it became the noun.[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Noël du Fail's Propos rustiques (1547) has it,[11][2] and Amyot (1559) writes of une naturelle adresse à la lutte, a natural skill at wrestling.[5][11]

Semantic evolution

Amyot and Montaigne already use it for both bodily skill and skill in handling affairs, as in il n'est pas moins besoing d'adresse et d'art que de force.[12][11] It names physical dexterity (jeux d'adresse, tours d'adresse) and the knack of managing people and situations, opposed to maladresse.[3][10]

Timeline

  • 1547 – In Noël du Fail.[11]
  • 1559 – Une naturelle adresse à la lutte in Amyot.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Skill, dexterity of the body: jeu d'adresse, tour d'adresse.[3][4]
  2. Skill in handling people or situations; tact, cleverness.[3]

Word family

  • maladresse

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e 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
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 18, 4a
  7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ a b c d Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  12. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
Cite this entry

“Adresse.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/adresse. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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