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erreur

Etymology and origin of the French word erreur

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
late 10th century, Passion de Clermont (error)
Borrowed from
Latin error
Ultimate origin
Latin (errō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin error
French erreur

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /e.ʁœʁ/[1]

Forms

erreur f (plural erreurs)[1] Old French error (end of the 10th century), resuffixed as erreur (12th–13th century); sometimes masculine in the 16th century after Latin.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin error (“wandering; uncertainty; mistake, illusion, (Christian Latin) heresy”), from its accusative “errōrem”, derived from errō (“to wander; to err”) (see errer).[5][2][6][4][7][1]

Compare Old Occitan error, Spanish error and Italian errore.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Passion of Clermont (end of the 10th century) error means deceit, imposture.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

About 1125 it meant the act of being mistaken, the source of faire erreur, par erreur, sauf erreur.[5][2] About 1200 it meant a regrettable act and, from Christian Latin, a false doctrine (maistres d'error); Bersuire (about 1355) has humaines erreurs, moral lapses.[5][2] It is a legal term from 1549 (erreur judiciaire) and means an inaccuracy from 1585 (erreur de calcul).[5][2]

From the 14th century, in a lofty style, it also took the Latin sense of wandering: Malherbe's erreur vagabonde and les erreurs d'Ulysse (Académie, 1694), a use dated already in the 17th century.[4][3] Cherchez l'erreur, pointing to something illogical, is from the end of the 20th century.[2]

Timeline

  • late 10th century – Error, imposture, Passion.[5]
  • c. 1125 – The act of being mistaken.[5]
  • c. 1200 – A false doctrine.[5]
  • c. 1355 – Humaines erreurs, Bersuire.[5]
  • 1549 – A legal term, Robert Estienne.[5]
  • 1585 – Erreur de calcul.[5]
  • 1694 – Les erreurs d'Ulysse, Académie.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An error, mistake: faire une erreur, par erreur, sauf erreur, erreur de calcul.[1][5]
  2. The state of being mistaken: être dans l'erreur, induire en erreur, l'erreur est humaine.[1][6]
  3. A false opinion or doctrine.[5][2]
  4. A lapse, wrong act: erreur de jeunesse.[1][2]
  5. (law) Erreur judiciaire: a miscarriage of justice.[2]
  6. (computing, science) An error, a deviation: message d'erreur, erreur absolue.[1][2]
  7. (literary, archaic) Wandering: les erreurs d'Ulysse.[3][4]
  • errer
  • erroné
  • errance
  • Latin error

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 241a
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Erreur.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/erreur. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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