French has two words spelled feu: the noun “fire”, from Latin focus, and the adjective feu “the late (deceased)”, from popular Latin *fatutus.[1][2][3]
feu1 fire
Pronunciation
- IPA: /fø/[3]
Forms
feu m (plural feux)[3] Old French fou (9th century), foc, fu, feu from the 12th century.[1][4][3]
Etymology
The noun “fire” is inherited from Old French fu, inherited from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”), which already in imperial Latin was used for “fire” and displaced ignis (“fire”) (see igné).[5][4][2][6][3] In Latin “focus” also meant a pyre, a brazier and, figuratively, the family; the Romans linked it with “forēre” “to heat”.[4] The word is not related to German Feuer and English fire, as Littré and Wiktionary point out.[7][3]
Cognate with Italian fuoco, Occitan fuoc, Catalan foc, Spanish fuego, Portuguese fogo and Romanian foc.[8]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first found about 881 in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie, of the pyre into which the saint is thrown: Enz enl fou la getterent “they threw her into the fire”.[5][4]
Semantic evolution
Most senses appear in Old French: the flames of Pentecost (second half of the 10th century), a spark (Chanson de Roland), the fire of hell (1120–1150), cooking fire (about 1160), lightning (about 1200), the hearth (1228) and, by extension, a household, a family (1260), whence n'avoir ni feu ni lieu.[5][4] The fire of the eyes is in the Passion of Clermont, and the heat of passion, anger (about 1150) and love soon after.[5]
From the old ordeal by fire comes mettre sa main au feu (before 1549), and, from destruction au feu ! (15th century) and à feu et à sang (1530).[4] As a source of light it gave couvre-feu, and as a signal feu rouge (1865, on the railways) and, figuratively, feu vert (about 1955–1960); as the discharge of firearms (1572), faire long feu (1826) and mettre le feu aux poudres (1690).[4] The Old French form fou survives in fouace and fouage.[8]
Timeline
- c. 881 – Fou in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie.[5]
- c. 1100 – A spark, in the Chanson de Roland.[5]
- c. 1160 – Cooking fire, in the Roman d'Eneas.[5]
- 1260 – A household, in Étienne Boileau.[5]
- 1414 – Feu de joie.[4]
- 1530 – À feu et à sang.[4]
- 1572 – The fire of guns.[4]
- 1865 – Feu rouge on the railways.[4]
Meanings
Noun
- fire; a fire in a hearth or in the open: faire du feu, feu de camp.[3][4]
- A destructive fire, a blaze: au feu !, mettre le feu à.[4]
- Heat for cooking: à feu doux, sur le feu, in preparation.[4]
- A light; a signal: feu rouge, les feux d'une voiture, donner le feu vert.[4]
- The firing of guns: faire long feu, cessez-le-feu.[4][8]
- (figurative) Ardour, passion: le feu de la colère.[5]
- (dated) A household: un village de cent feux.[4]
Word family
- couvre-feu
- cessez-le-feu
- pare-feu
- pot-au-feu
- contre-feu
- fouée
feu2 the late
- Confidence
- Probable
- Formation
- Inherited
- First attested
- 11th century (fadude)
- Inherited from
- Latin *fatutus
- Ultimate origin
- Latin (fātum)
Pronunciation
- IPA: /fø/[3]
Forms
feu (feminine feue, masculine plural feus, feminine plural feues)[3] Fadude (feminine, 11th century), then faü, feü.[1][2][8]
Etymology
The adjective “late” comes from popular Latin inherited from Vulgar Latin *fātūtus (“who has fulfilled his destiny”), derived from fātum (“fate, destiny”) (see fée).[1][2][8][9][3] At first it meant “having a good or bad destiny”, as in “mal faüt” (“Vie de saint Alexis”), hence “one who has fulfilled his destiny”; this sense drove out the first by the 13th century.[2] The word is found only in French, Old Occitan “mal fadat” did not develop the same way, and Italian fu in “la fu regina” is borrowed from French.[2] Littré thought the derivation from “fātum” a conjecture.[7]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first found in the 11th century as the feminine fadude, and in the Vie de saint Alexis as mal faüt “ill-fated, unhappy”.[1][2]
Semantic evolution
By the 13th century only the sense “deceased” remained.[2] It is now legal, literary or jocular, placed before the noun: feu Monsieur X, la feue reine; before an article or possessive it stays invariable, as in Feydeau's Feu la mère de Madame.[8]
Meanings
Adjective
Related words
- foyer
- fouace
- fougasse
- focal
- fusil
- fée
- Latin focus
References
- ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 651b
- ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 436b
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Feu.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/feu. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.
Last edited on . ·