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Etymology and origin of the French word lime

lime1 file (tool)

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1165 Guillaume d'Angleterre
Inherited from
Latin lima
Ultimate origin
Latin lima
Etymology tree of lime1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin līma
French lime
Spanish lima
English lime
From the same root · lime1
English birdlime ← lime
English limelight ← lime
English limestone ← lime

Pronunciation

Forms

lime f (plural limes)[1] Middle French lyme;[2][3] Anglo-Norman lym and lyme.[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the tool is inherited from Latin līma (“file, polishing, revision”).[2][4][5][6] Rey calls the Latin word of unknown origin;[4] Littré connected it with Latin līmus (“oblique”), for the slant of the file's teeth.[7]

Cognate with Italian lima, Occitan lima, Catalan llima, Spanish lima and Portuguese lima.[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in Guillaume d'Angleterre (about 1165), already uses the file figuratively.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word came in with its concrete sense, but figurative uses appear from the start and disappeared after the classical period.[4] In Middle French lime sourde, from a file that works without noise, meant a hypocritical woman (Charles d'Orléans, about 1450) and later a sly person (1532), and lime douce a flattering slanderer (1640).[2][4][5] The figurative sense “care given to polishing a work” (Boileau, about 1665) lasted longer in elevated style.[2][4]

By analogy it named the tusks of a boar (1549) and a marine bivalve with ridged shell (1797).[2][4] An old slang lyme (1527), later lime, “shirt”, survives in the slang limace.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1165 – First record, in Guillaume d'Angleterre.[2]
  • c. 1450 – Charles d'Orléans calls a hypocritical woman lyme sourde.[2][7]
  • 1527 – The slang sense “shirt” is recorded.[4]
  • 1549 – Estienne records limes for a boar's tusks.[2]
  • c. 1665 – Boileau uses it for the polishing of a work.[2][4]
  • 1797 – It names a bivalve mollusc.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A file, a hand tool with a ridged steel blade for shaping or smoothing metal, wood and other materials;[9][2] lime à ongles, a nail file.[9][2]
  2. Lime sourde: a file that makes no noise, and figuratively a sly person.[7][10]
  3. (literary, dated) The careful polishing of a written work.[10][7]
  4. (zoology) A marine bivalve with equal, ridged valves.[9][2]

lime2 lime (citrus fruit)

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1555
Borrowed from
Spanish lima
Ultimate origin
Arabic لِيمَة
Etymology tree of lime2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin līma
Spanish lima
English lime
French lime
The journey of lime2
From the same root · lime2
English birdlime ← lime
English limelight ← lime
English limestone ← lime

Pronunciation

Forms

lime f (plural limes)[1]

Etymology

The word for the fruit is borrowed from Spanish lima or Catalan llima, from Arabic لِيمَة (līma), an Arabic word of the Maghreb.[4][10][1] The Grand Robert compares Provençal limo.[11] Behind the Arabic word is a Persian word, the source of limon “lemon”.[10][4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1555, for a kind of sweet citron.[10][4]

Semantic evolution

In the older dictionaries lime named a sweet citrus fruit, also called limette, and Littré speaks of lime douce for its mild juice.[4][10][7] It produced limette (1782) and limettier (1845).[4] Today it names the lime, the green lemon with thin skin, a use labelled Belgian and Canadian by Wiktionary.[9][1] The English word lime was borrowed from the French word.[4]

Timeline

  • 1555 – First record of lime for the fruit.[10][4]
  • 1782 – The derivative limette is recorded.[4]
  • 1845 – Limettier is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (botany) A lime, the fruit of a variety of limettier, a green lemon with a thin skin and sour juice.[9][12]
  2. (Belgium, Canada) The lime fruit or tree.[1]

Word family

  • limette
  • limettier

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 n o 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 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b 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. 5, 337b
  7. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  12. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Lime.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/lime. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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