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est

Etymology and origin of the French word est

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1140, Geffrei Gaimar, Estoire des Engleis
Borrowed from
Old English ēast
Ultimate origin
Old English (ēast)

Pronunciation

Forms

est (invariable)[1] First found as le hest (about 1138).[2][3]

Etymology

Like the other points of the compass, it is borrowed from Old English ēast (“east”), found as an adverb from the late 9th century and as a noun from the 12th.[4][2][5][6][1] The GLLF gives the Middle English form est.[7] Compare German Ost, Osten and Dutch oost.[4][2][8] Rey traces the Germanic forms to an Indo-European root meaning “dawn”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Geffrei Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis (about 1140) has est, the cardinal point of the rising sun.[4][2] The Livre des Rois (12th century) has L'entrée del temple ki fud devers le hest “the entrance of the temple which faced east”.[8]

Semantic evolution

Furetière (1690) records the sense “place lying to the east”, and in 1870 Larousse l'Est, the eastern region of France (Alsace, Lorraine, Franche-Comté).[7][2] From 1945 to 1990 l'Est and les pays de l'Est were the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the USSR, as against l'Ouest.[2][7] In Quebec the Cantons de l'Est are the eastern region bordering the United States, also called l'Estrie.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1138 – Le hest, Gaimar.[2]
  • c. 1140 – Est.[4]
  • 1690 – “Place lying to the east”, Furetière.[7]
  • 1870 – L'Est, the east of France.[7]
  • 1945–1990 – Les pays de l'Est, the Eastern bloc.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. east, the cardinal point where the sun rises: de l'est à l'ouest, vent d'est.[9][1]
  2. The eastern part of a country or region, l'Est, the east of France.[9][7]
  3. L'Est, les pays de l'Est: Eastern Europe, formerly the Eastern bloc.[2][9]

Adjective

  1. East, eastern (invariable): la côte est, longitude est.[9][1]

Usage notes

Est is also the third person singular present of être, a homograph pronounced /ɛ/.[4] By the TLFi's rule it takes a small letter for the direction and a capital for a region or group of states, though writers do not always follow it.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ 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. 15/2, 90a
  7. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

  • étai · also from Old English
  • sud · also from Old English
  • ouest · also from Old English
  • nord · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Est.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/est. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·