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champignon

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Etymology and origin of the French word champignon

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1200 Aucassin et Nicolette (as canpegneus) More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Old French champignuel
Ultimate origin
Latin campānia

Pronunciation

  • /ʃɑ̃.pi.ɲɔ̃/[1]
  • Louisiana: [ʃɑ̃.pĩ.jɔ̃][1]
  • Louisiana: [ʃɑ̃.pi.ɲɔ̃][1]

Forms

champignon m (plural champignons)[1] Old French canpegneus (about 1200), champignuel and champineul (about 1350).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French champignuel with a change of suffix to -on.[2][3][4] The Old French word is from Vulgar Latin *campāniolus (“grown in the fields”),[3][4][1] derived from Latin campānia (“level country”).[2][3] Wiktionary places Late Latin campāneus (“of the fields”) between them.[1] Bloch and Wartburg explain the name as opposed to cultivated mushrooms.[4][5]

In Gallo-Romance it wholly replaced Latin fungus, which gave Italian fungo and Spanish hongo.[4][3] Modern Provençal has Occitan campanhou, but other regions use rival words.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Champignon is first recorded in 1398 in the Ménagier de Paris, for the mushroom: Champignons d'une nuit sont les meilleurs “mushrooms of one night are the best”.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Its rapid growth gave figurative phrases: venir en une nuit comme un champignon (1690), pousser comme un champignon and ville champignon (1911).[2][3] By likeness of shape it named a spongy swelling in pathology and the charred end of a badly burning wick (1636), a basin of a fountain (1694) and a wig stand (1771);[2][3] in the 20th century it named the accelerator pedal (1931), hence appuyer sur le champignon “to speed up”, and the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion.[3][7]

From the 19th century the word was extended to all fungi, including moulds and yeasts.[3] German borrowed Champignon in the narrow sense of the cultivated mushroom.[3] English took the word in the 1570s; there its sense narrowed in the 18th century to edible species.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – Canpegneus appears in Aucassin et Nicolette.[2]
  • 1398 – Champignon is recorded in the Ménagier de Paris.[2][3]
  • 1570s – English borrows champignon.[8]
  • 1636 – Monet records the senses “spongy growth” and “charred wick”.[2]
  • 1690 – Furetière records venir en une nuit comme un champignon.[2][3]
  • 1694 – Used for a mushroom-shaped fountain basin.[2]
  • 1771 – Used for a wig stand.[2]
  • 1911 – Ville champignon “boom town” appears.[3]
  • 1931 – It names the accelerator pedal.[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mushroom, with a stem and cap, edible or poisonous: ramasser des champignons.[7][9]
  2. Champignon de Paris, champignon de couche: the cultivated button mushroom.[9][7][3]
  3. (botany) Any fungus, including moulds and yeasts.[2][9][1]
  4. Pousser comme un champignon: to grow very fast, also ville champignon, a boom town.[9][7]
  5. Something shaped like a mushroom, such as a peg on a coat stand.[7][9]
  6. (familiar) The accelerator pedal: appuyer sur le champignon.[9][7][1]
  7. Champignon atomique: a mushroom cloud.[9]

Word family

  • champignonner
  • champignonneux
  • champignonnière
  • champignonniste

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 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Champignon.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/champignon. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·