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Etymology and origin of the French word cage

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1155 Wace More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin cavea via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin cavus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cavus
Italian cavo
French cave
Latin cavea
French cage
Italian gabbia
From the same root
Latin caverna ← cavus
Latin cavilla ← cavus
Latin cavitās ← cavus
Latin cavō ← cavus
Latin concavus ← cavus
English decoy ← cavea
Latin caveola ← cavea

Pronunciation

Forms

cage f (plural cages)[1] Anglo-Norman chage, kage, gage;[2][3] Burgundian caige, Walloon chaive.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French cage, inherited from Latin cavea (“hollow, enclosure for animals, cage”), from cavus (“hollow”).[4][5][6][1] Its initial consonant developed abnormally: the regular outcome with a palatalized initial consonant was chage, found as the name of an abbey founded at Meaux in 1135, and the same development is seen in the place name Saint-Crépin-en-Chaye near Soissons, where the Latin word meant a theatre.[4][5][1] The diminutive Latin caveola gave geôle, which replaces it in the north-east, French-speaking Switzerland and the far south-west.[4][5]

Cognate with Italian gabbia, Spanish gavia, Portuguese gávea and Old Occitan gabia.[3][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Wace (1155) in the sense of an enclosure with bars for keeping animals.[8][9] The Anglo-Norman dictionary dates it to 1160–1174 and glosses it “a cage, a place of confinement for living beings, a prison”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word names a closed space, usually with bars, for keeping and carrying live animals, especially birds; the proverb mieux vaut être oiseau de bois que de cage (1611) gave way to mieux vaut être oiseau de campagne qu'oiseau de cage.[4] Cage à poules (1833) came to be used figuratively, notably of an early aeroplane, and tourner comme un ours en cage refers to dangerous animals.[4][9] By analogy it was a barred cell used as a prison (before 1317), and in Old French it sometimes meant “prison” in general.[4][5]

By extension it named any enclosure that holds something (1419, of a goldsmith's display), then technical frames in clockmaking (1690) and anatomy (1856), whence cage thoracique;[4] cage d'escalier (1676) and cage d'ascenseur (20th century) passed from building into general use.[4] In football it is colloquially the goal.[9][1]

Timeline

  • 1155 – Wace uses it of an enclosure for animals.[8][9]
  • before 1317 – A barred cell used as a prison.[4]
  • 1321 – The diminutive cagette “little cage”.[10][4]
  • 1419 – Used of a goldsmith's display case.[4]
  • 1467 – Cageau, later cageot, appears.[4]
  • 1611 – The proverb mieux vaut être oiseau de bois que de cage.[4]
  • 1676 – Félibien records cage d'escalier.[4][8]
  • 1856 – An anatomical sense, whence cage thoracique.[4][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A barred enclosure for wild animals: la cage aux lions.[9][8]
  2. A small cage for birds or small pets.[9][3]
  3. Cage à poules: a hen coop, figuratively a cramped dwelling.[9][4]
  4. (figurative) A prison: être en cage.[9][3]
  5. (football) The goal.[9][1]
  6. (technical) A frame or enclosure holding something: the main walls of a house, the case of a clock, the cage of a mine.[9][3]
  7. Cage d'escalier, cage d'ascenseur: a stairwell, a lift shaft.[9][4]
  8. Cage thoracique: the rib cage.[9][1]
  9. Cage de Faraday: a Faraday cage.[9][4]

Word family

  • encager
  • cagette
  • cageot
  • cagée

Usage notes

In Acadian French cage à homards is used where France says casier for a lobster pot.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d 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 g h i j k l m n Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ 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

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Cage.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/cage. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

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