joint

joint¹ joint, seam, seal

Pronunciation

• /ʒwɛ̃/^[1]

Forms

joint m (plural joints)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a joint or seam is the past participle from French joindre (“to join”), used as a noun.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary also allows a direct origin in Latin iūnctus (“joined”).^[1] The verb is from Latin iungō (“to join, yoke”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the 13th century meaning “yoke”, after the old sense of joindre “to yoke (oxen)”.^[4][3][6] A 14th-century text describes a joint “to which oxen are tied in the country”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From 1391 the noun names the line where the parts of a construction meet, in joinery and masonry, and the gap left between them, filled with mortar in a wall (1690).^[4][3][8] The sense “articulation of the bones” (1690) has gone, except in the familiar trouver le joint “to find the way to solve a difficulty” (1798), which Littré explains from the skill of someone carving a fowl.^[4][7][9] The mechanical sense, an articulation transmitting movement between two parts, appears about 1845 (joint de Cardan, 1873), and the plumber's seal in the 20th century.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 13th century – It means “yoke”.^[4][3]
• 1391 – First used for the meeting line of two parts of a construction.^[4][8]
• 1690 – Furetière records the senses “articulation” and “gap between stones filled with binder”.^[3][4]
• 1798 – The Académie records trouver le joint.^[3][9]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records the mechanical sense.^[3]
• 1873 – Larousse records joint de Cardan.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (technical) The line or surface where two parts of an assembly meet; a seam.^[8][10]
2. The gap between joined parts, as between stones filled with mortier: refaire les joints d'un mur.^[8][3]
3. A seal or gasket making a joint watertight.^[4][1]
4. (mechanics) An articulation between two parts that transmits movement: joint de Cardan.^[8][3]
5. (dated) The place where two bones meet, an articulation.^[8][7]
6. Trouver le joint: (familiar) to find the way to solve a difficulty.^[8][4]

Word family

• jointoyer
• ajointer

joint² cannabis cigarette

Pronunciation

• /ʒwɛ̃/^[1]

Forms

joint m (plural joints)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a cannabis cigarette is borrowed from English joint, a slang word of the United States, itself taken from the French noun.^[2][8][4][1] In American slang the word, from the sense “point of junction”, came to mean a more or less illegal meeting place, then the premises where opium was smoked, and then, from about 1935, the drug user's equipment: first the hypodermic syringe, then the marijuana cigarette.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert dates it to 1970 in L'Express, with slightly earlier uses.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Of the senses of the American word, only “marijuana cigarette” passed into French, where it is used for a cigarette of hashish or marijuana.^[4][8]

Timeline

• c. 1935 – In American slang joint names the drug user's equipment.^[4]
• 1970 – L'Express uses joint for a cannabis cigarette.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (familiar) A joint, a cigarette of haschisch or marijuana: fumer un joint.^[8][1]