Etymologically
Log in

décoller

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the French word décoller

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1382–1385 accounts of the Clos des galées, Rouen More words from the 14th century
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek κόλλα
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French colle
French coller
French décoller
From the same root
French collagène ← colle
French collage ← coller

Pronunciation

Forms

décoller[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French dé- + coller (“to glue”).[2][3][4][5] Coller is from colle (“glue”), which comes from Vulgar Latin *colla, from Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla, “glue”).[4][6]

The aviation sense “to take off” is a figure of speech: the aircraft “comes unstuck” from the ground.[6] The economic sense (1962) follows American English take off.[7] The French verb was borrowed as Italian decollare and Brazilian Portuguese decolar.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the accounts of the galley yard of Rouen (1382–1385): Pavois vieux et rompus, tous descollés et les couvient tous recoler “shields old and broken, all come unglued, and they must all be glued again”.[2][8]

Semantic evolution

For five centuries it meant only to unstick something glued, or to separate what was in contact; décollement followed in 1635.[2][6][8] In 1866 Delvau records the familiar intransitive “to go away, leave”.[2]

With early aviation, about 1907–1910, it came to mean that an aircraft leaves the ground; the TLFi's first literary example is Proust's (1918), and the familiar tone soon wore off.[2][6][7] The noun décollage, used earlier, took the same sense.[6] In 1962, after the American English take off, it was applied to an economy that starts to grow,[7][6] and in sport to a competitor pulling away from the others.[7]

Timeline

  • 1382–1385 – Descollés “unglued” in the Rouen galley accounts.[2]
  • 1635 – The derivative décollement is recorded.[6]
  • 1866 – Delvau records it in the sense “to go away”.[2]
  • 1907 – First recorded use for an aircraft leaving the ground.[2][7]
  • 1918 – Proust uses the aviation sense.[2]
  • 1962 – Used for an economy that takes off.[7][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To unstick, detach something that was glued: décoller une étiquette;[7][2][9] se décoller to come unstuck.[7][2][9]
  2. (transitive) To separate what is in contact;[7][2] oreilles décollées ears that stick out;[7][2] (medicine) of the retina, to become detached.[7][2]
  3. (figurative, familiar) To stop clinging to or pestering someone.[7]
  4. (intransitive, familiar) To leave, go away: Il ne décolle pas d'ici.[7][2]
  5. (intransitive) Of an aircraft, to take off.[7][10]
  6. (intransitive) To get away from, leave behind: a skier leaving the ramp, a rider pulling away from the pack;[7] (figurative) décoller de la réalité to lose touch with reality.[7]
  7. (intransitive, figurative) Of an economy, to start growing, leave stagnation behind.[7]
  8. (intransitive, familiar) To lose weight.[7]

Word family

  • décollage

Usage notes

French has a separate verb of the same spelling, décoller “to behead”, borrowed in the 10th century (Vie de saint Léger) from Latin dēcollō, from collum (“neck”); it is now archaic, apart from the fishing sense “to cut the head off a cod”.[2][8] The Grand Robert lists it as décoller 1, and this verb as décoller 2.[2][3][8]

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 m n o p q 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 892a
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  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 Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Décoller.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/d%C3%A9coller. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·