Etymologically
Log in

face

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 14:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

face f (plural faces)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *facia (“portrait”), from classical Latin faciēs (“form, appearance; face”), which is related to faciō (“to make, do”).[2][3][4][5][6][1] The learned faciès is a doublet.[1][3]

Compare Italian faccia, Old Occitan fassa, Spanish haz and Portuguese face (“cheek”).[4][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the first half of the 12th century in the Oxford Psalter, meaning the front of the human head.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the sense “face” it was displaced in nearly all of Gallo-Romance by figure and later visage; it survives mainly in religious language (la Sainte Face) and in mocking phrases such as face de rat, though in Canada it is still an ordinary word.[4][3] Face à face dates from 1172–1176.[2]

About 1265 it meant the aspect under which a thing appears, and in 1370–1372 each side of a thing (Oresme); the front of a building (1552) passed to façade.[2][3] It is a geometry term from 1752, and the side of a coin bearing a head from 1819.[3][2] En face is from 1534, faire face à l'ennemi from 1657 and faire face à une dépense from 1798.[3] Derivatives include facette (12th century) and effacer; surface (1611) was modelled on Latin superficies.[4]

Timeline

  • 1st half of the 12th century – “Face”, in the Oxford Psalter.[2]
  • 1172–1176 – Face à face.[2]
  • c. 1265 – “Aspect”, in Brunetto Latini.[2]
  • 1370–1372 – “Side of a thing”, in Oresme.[2]
  • 1534 – En face.[3]
  • 1657 – Faire face à l'ennemi.[3]
  • 1752 – A face in geometry.[3]
  • 1819 – The obverse of a coin, in Boiste.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (literary) The face: la Sainte Face, (Canada) the face in everyday use.[3][1]
  2. A side, surface: les faces d'un cube, (mountaineering) a face.[1][9]
  3. The obverse of a coin: pile ou face “heads or tails”.[1][2]
  4. An aspect: changer la face du monde.[2]
  5. En face: opposite, en face de: facing, face à: facing, confronting.[3]
  6. Faire face à: to face, cope with, perdre la face: to lose face.[3]
  7. Face à face: face to face; as a noun, a confrontation.[2][3]

Word family

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 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 355a
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF