Etymologically
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chien

Etymology and origin of the French word chien

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1100, Chanson de Roland (chen)
Inherited from
Latin canis via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (canis)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Belgium, France): /ʃjɛ̃/[1]
  • IPA (Quebec): /ʃjẽ/[1]

Forms

chien m (plural chiens, feminine chienne)[1] Old French chen (1080), chien from 1195–1200, Picard and Norman kien, quien.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chen, inherited from Latin canis (“dog”), accusative “canem”.[4][2][5][6][1] “Canis” replaced an older Indo-European stem in “-n”, as in Ancient Greek κύων (kúōn), with a vocalism that is hard to explain; Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍃 (hunds) and Sanskrit श्वन् (śván) belong to the same group.[2][3]

Cognate with Italian cane, Occitan can, Portuguese cão, Romanian câine and Spanish can.[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as chen in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), naming the animal.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

As a term of contempt it was an adjective in the Roman de Renart (1195–1200) and a noun for a man in Gautier de Coinci (1223); de chien expresses hardship or contempt from Rabelais (1552), as in une vie de chien (1690).[4][2] Many phrases set the dog against the wolf or the cat: entre chien et loup (first half of the 13th century) and s'accorder comme chien et chat (1690); comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles is from 1694.[4][2] The cock of a gun, which “guards” the charge, is also a chien.[4][1] Journalists' slang has had les chiens écrasés “minor news items” since 1881.[4]

Derivatives and compounds include chenet (1287), named for the dogs' heads that decorated andirons, chenil (1387), chiendent (1340) and chien-loup (1775), a calque of English wolf-dog.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Chen in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 1195–1200 – Contemptuous use, in the Roman de Renart.[4]
  • 1st half of the 13th century – Entre chien et leu.[4]
  • 1287 – Chenet.[5]
  • 1552 – De chien in Rabelais.[4]
  • 1690 – S'accorder comme chien et chat, une vie de chien.[4]
  • 1775 – Chien-loup.[5]
  • 1881 – Les chiens écrasés.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A dog; feminine chienne, a bitch: chien de garde, chien de chasse.[1][2]
  2. (figurative, contemptuous) A dog, cur, de chien: wretched: un temps de chien.[4][2]
  3. The hammer (cock) of a firearm.[1]
  4. Entre chien et loup: at dusk.[4]
  5. (Quebec) Chien de poche: someone who follows another everywhere.[2]

Word family

  • chienne
  • chenet
  • chenil
  • chiendent
  • chien-loup
  • canin
  • canaille
  • cynique
  • Latin canis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b 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 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
  5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 191a
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Chien.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/chien. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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