Etymologically
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chaussure

Etymology and origin of the French word chaussure

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1172–75, Chrétien de Troyes, Chevalier de la Charrette (chaucëure)
Ultimate origin
Latin (calceus)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʃo.syʁ/[1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): [ʃo.syɾ][1]

Forms

chaussure f (plural chaussures)[1] Old French chaucëure, chauceüre, Picard cauceüre.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from French chausser + -ure, an Old French formation.[2][5][6][1] Littré compares a Latin type *calceātūra and Picard cauchure.[4] The verb chausser continues Latin calceō (“to shoe”), from calceus (“shoe, half-boot”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chrétien de Troyes's Chevalier de la Charrette (1172–75) has chaucëure for anything that wraps the foot.[2]

Semantic evolution

The broad sense “anything worn on the foot” is the old one and is now rare; the everyday sense is a shoe that does not rise above the ankle.[7][3] Cotgrave (1611) records the figurative trouver chaussure à son pied “to find what (or whom) suits one exactly”.[2][3] In the 20th century the word came to name the shoe trade and industry (industriels de la chaussure, Jules Romains, 1938).[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1172–75 – Chaucëure, Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
  • Late 12th century – Cauceüre in the Roman d'Alexandre.[3]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave records trouver chaussure à son pied.[2][5]
  • 1938 – The shoe industry.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (rare) Anything worn to cover and protect the foot.[7][3]
  2. A shoe, chaussures montantes, boots.[7][1]
  3. The shoe trade or industry: travailler dans la chaussure.[7][1]
  4. (familiar) Trouver chaussure à son pied: to find exactly what or whom one needs.[3][2]
  • chaussette
  • chausson
  • chausser
  • chausse

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Chaussure.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/chaussure. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·