Etymologically
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debout

Etymology and origin of the French word debout

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1155, Wace (de but)
Ultimate origins
Latin (de)French (bout)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French de
French debout
French davantage
French devant

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /də.bu/[1]

Forms

debout[1] Old French de bot, de but (1155); written debout from the 13th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a compound from French de + bout (“end”), literally “on end”.[4][3][5][6][1][7] bout is derived from bouter “to strike, push”, from Frankish *bōtan.[8] Littré rejects the idea that nautical “vent debout” contains a Germanic word for the bow of a ship (English bow): the bow is simply the “bout” of the ship.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Wace's Brut (1155) de but means “at once, straight away”, a sense limited to Old French; about 1190 it meant “end to end”.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Old French also used it for “beside” and “absolutely”.[6] The modern sense, of a person “on their feet, out of bed”, is first recorded by Palsgrave (1530); contes à dormir debout “tall tales” is in Cotgrave (1611), and the exclamation debout! in Monet (1638).[4] Montaigne (1580) has mourir debout, still active.[4] Of things it means upright, set on one end (1616), and still standing, surviving (1680: la muraille de la vile étoit encore debout), a sense found in 1546.[4][9] Vent debout, a headwind, is recorded in 1732, and ne pas tenir debout is said of an argument that does not hold.[4][2]

Timeline

  • 1155 – De but “at once”, Wace.[4]
  • c. 1190 – “End to end”.[3]
  • 1530 – “On one's feet”, Palsgrave.[4]
  • 1546 – Of a building, “still standing”.[9]
  • 1580 – Mourir debout, Montaigne.[4]
  • 1611 – Contes à dormir debout, Cotgrave.[4]
  • 1732 – Vent debout.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. standing, on one's feet: rester debout, se mettre debout, places debout.[5][1]
  2. Up, out of bed: être debout à six heures.[10][1]
  3. Upright, on end: mettre des livres debout.[5][10]
  4. Still standing, intact: les murs sont encore debout.[10][2]
  5. Tenir debout: to stand up, hold together, cela ne tient pas debout, that makes no sense.[2][1]
  6. Dormir debout: to be asleep on one's feet, une histoire à dormir debout, a tall tale.[1][4]
  7. (nautical) Vent debout: a headwind.[4][1]

Interjection

  1. Debout!: get up![5][1]
  • bout
  • bouter
  • about
  • aboutir

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 219a
  8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Debout.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/debout. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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