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battant

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Etymology and origin of the French word battant

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1165 More words from the 12th century
Ultimate origin
Latin battuō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French battre
French battant
From the same root
French débattre ← battre

Pronunciation

Forms

battant (feminine battante, masculine plural battants, feminine plural battantes)[1] As a noun, battant m (plural battants).[1][2]

Etymology

It is from French battre (“to beat”), of which it is the present participle, used as an adjective and then as a noun.[3][4][2][5] The verb comes from Latin battuō (“to beat”), a word of familiar Latin.[6][7]

The sporting sense “combative fighter” (1907) is explained by the English word battling, applied for instance to a boxer.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old French of about 1165–1170 it was used as an adverb meaning “quickly”, the idea of speed coming from that of striking, and as an adjective meaning “fresh, new”.[3][4] Littré quotes a 12th-century line from the Book of Kings in which a messenger comes batanz, in haste, to Saul.[5]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “new” survives only in battant neuf “brand-new” (1690).[3][4] The passive sense “being beaten” (after 1578) remains in tambour battant (1690), first “openly, to the sound of the drum”, then “briskly, smartly” (1833), an allusion to a military charge.[3]

As a noun it named from the 13th century pieces of machinery that strike against another: the clapper of a mill hopper (about 1279), then an object that falls back and strikes (1380), on its own and in battant de cloche (1680).[3][4] In the 17th century it came to mean each leaf of a double door or window hung on hinges (1680), and in seafaring the part of a flag that flies free in the wind (1690).[3] Slang used it for the heart and then the stomach (1872).[3][8]

In sport it named a combative athlete, first a boxer (1907), and later any very combative person (1967).[3][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1165–1170 – Used as an adverb “quickly” and as an adjective “fresh, new”.[3]
  • c. 1279 – First recorded as a noun, for the clapper of a mill.[3][4]
  • 1380 – It names an object that falls back and strikes.[3]
  • 1680 – Battant de cloche and the leaf of a door are recorded.[3]
  • 1690 – Battant neuf, tambour battant and the seafaring sense are recorded.[3]
  • 1833 – Tambour battant takes the sense “briskly”.[3]
  • 1872 – Larchey records the slang sense “heart, stomach”.[3][8]
  • 1907 – First used of a combative boxer.[3][4]
  • 1967 – Applied to any very combative person.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The clapper of a bell, the metal piece that strikes its side.[2][8]
  2. A leaf of a door, window or piece of furniture, moving on its hinges: ouvrir une porte à deux battants.[2][8]
  3. A moving part that strikes another, in a mill, a loom or a latch.[2][8]
  4. (nautical) The fly of a flag, its horizontal length.[2]
  5. (slang) The heart, the stomach.[8][9]
  6. A fighter, a go-getter who does not give up, for example Ce boxeur est un vrai battant.[1][8]

Adjective

  1. Beating: pluie battante “driving rain”, porte battante “swing door”, le cœur battant “with a pounding heart”.[2]
  2. Tambour battant: briskly, without delay, for example Il a mené l'enquête tambour battant.[2][3]
  3. Battant neuf: brand-new.[3][4]

Usage notes

The Grand Robert gives three headwords: battant 1, the noun (about 1279); battant 2, the adjective (1165); and battant 3, the combative person (1907); all three come from battre.[4] Littré explains the old phrase battant ferant as a pleonasm, since férir also meant “to strike”.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 290b
  8. ^ a b c d e f g 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
  9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Battant.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/battant. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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