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gaufre

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Etymology and origin of the French word gaufre

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1185 Hue de Rotelande, Protheselaus More words from the 12th century
Borrowed from
Frankish *wafla via Old French
Ultimate origin
Frankish *wafla
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French gaufre
English gopher

Pronunciation

Forms

gaufre f (plural gaufres)[1] Old French walfre (about 1185) and goffre (about 1268), Middle French gauffre and gaufre (about 1398).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French walfre, probably borrowed from Frankish *wafla.[4][2][5] Because the word is so old in Romance, the TLFi, Rey and Bloch and Wartburg prefer a Frankish source to a borrowing from Middle Dutch wafele, which is only recorded at the end of the 13th century;[4][2][6] Wiktionary allows either.[1] The form is explained by the ⟨l⟩ of the Germanic word being anticipated in the first syllable, then by dissimilation of the two ⟨l⟩s, giving the first form, from which goffre (about 1268) developed; gaufre (about 1398) is a remodelling.[4][2][6]

The senses “cake” and “honeycomb” both exist in Romance and in Germanic, which suggests that the Frankish word already had both: compare the Middle Dutch word, which also means “honeycomb” in dialects, and the related German Wabe (“honeycomb”), from Old High German waba.[4][2] Wiktionary traces the Germanic word to Proto-Germanic *wēbilǭ and names English waffle as a cognate.[1] Littré cites Walloon waf and a Picard offre from Béthune.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as walfre about 1185, in Hue de Rotelande's Protheselaus, for a pastry baked between two plates divided into cells that print a raised pattern on it.[4]

Semantic evolution

The pastry is the first and usual sense.[2][4] The Paris Livre des métiers (13th century) rules that the masters and their men may give only two goffres for a penny, and the Ménagier de Paris (14th century) describes gauffres fourrées filled with cheese.[7] Ronsard used gaufres de cire for honeycombs in 1559,[4][2] and by 1690 Furetière applied the word to a pattern stamped with hot irons on cloth or paper, a sense that the TLFi treats as a back-formation from gaufrer.[4]

Because a waffle is baked between two irons, être la gaufre meant being the dupe caught between two powerful opponents; the Académie recorded it in 1835.[7][4] In 19th- and 20th-century slang gaufre meant food or a mess tin, a cap, and the face (Céline, 1936); prendre or ramasser une gaufre (1886) is to take a fall or a blow.[4][8] Moule à gaufres, a face scarred by smallpox, was shortened to gaufre as an insult meaning “idiot” (1920, Toulet), later used by Captain Haddock in the Tintin books.[4][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1185 – Walfre appears in Hue de Rotelande's Protheselaus.[4]
  • c. 1268 – The form goffre is recorded.[2][3]
  • 1377 – Waffier, the waffle iron, later gaufrier (1393).[2]
  • c. 1398 – The form gaufre appears, in the Ménagier de Paris.[2][3]
  • 1536 – Gaufrette is recorded.[2][6]
  • 1559 – Ronsard uses gaufres de cire for honeycombs.[4]
  • 1565 – The verb gaufrer “to emboss” is recorded.[2]
  • 1690 – Furetière uses it for a pattern stamped on cloth or paper.[4]
  • 1835 – The Académie records être la gaufre.[4]
  • 1886 – Prendre une gaufre is recorded in slang.[4]
  • 1920 – Toulet uses gaufre for “idiot”.[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A waffle: a light pastry baked between two plates with a raised honeycomb pattern: une gaufre au chocolat.[9][4]
  2. A honeycomb, the wax cake built by bees.[9][4][7]
  3. (slang) Food, a mess tin; also a cap.[4]
  4. Prendre une gaufre, ramasser une gaufre (slang): to take a fall or a blow.[4]
  5. Moule à gaufres (popular, dated): a face pitted by smallpox.[3][4]
  6. (slang) An idiot.[4][2]
  7. (slang) The face; a slap.[8][3]

Word family

  • gaufrette
  • gaufrier
  • gaufrer

Usage notes

A masculine homograph gaufre names the gopher; it comes from Louisiana or Canadian French, where the honeycomb word was applied to the animal, reportedly because of its burrows.[1] Etymonline suggests that English gopher (1812) may be an Englishing of this Louisiana French word.[10]

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 l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 448b
  6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Gaufre.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/gaufre. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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