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beige

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Etymology and origin of the French word beige

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1220 Gautier de Coinci More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Old French bege
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French beige
English beige

Pronunciation

Forms

beige (plural beiges)[1] Old French bege (about 1220) and baige (1348).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French bege, of obscure origin.[2][1][4][5] The Old French word meant “not dyed”, the natural colour of wool.[6][4]

Meyer-Lübke, after Horning, derived it from Italian bambagia (“cotton”), from Latin bambax;[7][8] this needs the loss of the first syllable, which Rey finds not unlikely, since most French colour adjectives are monosyllables, and the Wiktionnaire calls it the most probable view.[2][9][10] Bloch and Wartburg found the loss of the syllable hard to explain.[11] A source in Latin baeticus (“of Baetica”) fits the sense but not the sounds, nor the word's area, mainly Burgundy and Franche-Comté;[2][3] Pierre Guiraud proposed an unrecorded derivative of bigus (“double”), for a mixture of two colours.[2][3] Littré connected it with bis and Italian bigio (“grey”).[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1220 Gautier de Coinci uses bege.[5][3] A 13th-century line quoted by Littré speaks of monks blans ou noirs … bruns ou bis ou beges.[12]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first described wool in its natural, unbleached colour and cloth made from it; the Académie records serge beige and drap beige.[13][4][12] It then came to mean the colour itself, a very light brown or yellowish grey, and was used as a noun, le beige.[13][2][10] As a feminine noun, une beige named undyed cloth in the 14th century and again from 1762.[2][11]

English took the word in 1858 for a fine woollen fabric, and as a colour name from 1891.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1220 – Gautier de Coinci uses bege.[5][3]
  • 1348 – The spelling baige is recorded.[2]
  • 14th century – Beige names an undyed cloth.[2]
  • 1762 – The Académie records beige as a serge of undyed wool.[11][2]
  • 1858 – English borrows it for a woollen fabric.[6]
  • 1891 – English uses it as a colour name.[6]
  • c. 1950 – The derivative beigeasse appears.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of wool or cloth, undyed and unbleached, keeping its natural colour.[13][4][14]
  2. Of a very light brown colour, beige: un imperméable beige.[10][14][4]

Noun

  1. (masculine) The colour beige: un beige rosé.[10][4]
  2. (feminine, dated) A cloth or serge of undyed wool.[13][2]

Word family

  • beigeasse
  • beigeâtre

Usage notes

The adjective agrees in number (des manteaux beiges) but stays invariable in compounds such as beige clair.[14][15]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
  5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 229a
  9. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
  10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  12. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  13. ^ a b c d 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
  14. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  15. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Beige.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/beige. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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