Etymologically
Log in

affaire

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 21:12. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /a.fɛʁ/[1]

Forms

affaire f (plural affaires)[1] Old French afaire; masculine until the 16th century, of both genders in the 16th and 17th centuries, then feminine.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from the phrase “à faire” “to be done”, from à and faire,[2][5][6][7][8] the verb being inherited from Latin faciō (“to do, make”).[3] The noun was masculine, like other infinitives used as nouns, and Littré thought its feminine ending made it feminine;[9] the royal chancery long kept the masculine (“les exprès affaires du roi”).[9] Littré rejected Chapelain's idea that the word came from Italian affare, since it is in French texts from the 12th century.[9]

Cognate with Old Occitan afar and Catalan afer.[9] English affair is from Anglo-Norman “afere” (about 1300).[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1150 as a masculine noun, “what is to be done”;[2][5] by about 1155 l'affaire de qqn was “what concerns someone”,[5] and in 1172 avoir affaire de meant “to need”.[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start it was used of love affairs, a sense now archaic except in affaire de cœur, and of matters of interest, whence “deal, transaction” (faire une affaire, une bonne affaire).[2] In the 17th century it came to mean an embarrassing or tangled business, and in 1690 a lawsuit; hence the modern “affair, scandal” (l'affaire Dreyfus).[2][1]

In the plural les affaires were public business (1508, les affaires étrangères, Mme de Sévigné, 1680) and economic activity (1788: homme d'affaires);[2] mes affaires “my belongings” is found in 1215 and was taken up again in the 19th century.[2] Toutes affaires cessantes appears in a 1542 letter.[11] In Canada une affaire is any “thing” (c'est quoi, l'affaire ?), and être d'affaires means “to be capable”.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1150 – Afaire as a masculine noun.[2]
  • 1172 – Avoir affaire de “to need”.[2]
  • 1215 – Affaires “belongings”.[2]
  • c. 1300 – English affair, from Anglo-Norman.[10]
  • 15th century – The first feminine uses.[5][9]
  • 1508 – Les affaires “public business”.[2]
  • 1690 – “Lawsuit”.[2]
  • 1788 – Les affaires “business, trade”.[2]
  • 1926 – Affairisme.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A matter, concern: c'est mon affaire, une affaire d'honneur, avoir affaire à qqn: to deal with someone.[6][4]
  2. Faire l'affaire: to do, suit, faire son affaire à qqn: to settle someone's account.[6][11]
  3. A business deal, transaction; a bargain: faire une bonne affaire.[6][1]
  4. A business, firm: diriger une affaire.[1][7]
  5. An affair, scandal, (law) a case: l'affaire Dreyfus.[1][2]
  6. (plural) Business, trade; public affairs: un homme d'affaires, les Affaires étrangères.[2][6]
  7. (plural, informal) Belongings, things: ranger ses affaires.[1][2]
  8. (Quebec, informal) A thing, thingamajig.[1][2]

Word family

  • affairiste
  • affairé
  • affairisme
  • affairement
  • affairer
  • faire
  • English affair

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 349b
  9. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF