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meuble

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Etymology and origin of the French word meuble

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1160, Roman de Tristan
Inherited from
Latin mobilis via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin moveō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mobilis
French meuble
French mobile
From the same root
Latin immobilis ← mobilis
Latin mobilitas ← mobilis
Latin mobiliter ← mobilis

Pronunciation

Forms

meuble m (plural meubles)[1] Old French moeble (about 1165), moble (about 1170) and mueble;[2][3][4] meuble from 1238.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French moeble, inherited from Latin mōbilis (“that can be moved; changeable”), whose long ⟨o⟩ became short in popular Latin under the influence of moveō (“to move”).[2][5][6][7] In juridical Latin the adjective was specialised for movable goods, and in late Latin its neuter mōbile (“movable property”) was used as a noun.[2][8] The French noun is the adjective used as a noun.[8] The learned mobile is its doublet.[1]

Compare Occitan moble, Spanish mueble, Portuguese móvel and Italian mobile.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Roman de Tristan (about 1160) the adjective is said of soil that is easily worked; about 1165 moebles in Guillaume d'Angleterre is movable property.[3][8][2]

Semantic evolution

In law, biens meubles (about 1290) are goods that can be moved, opposed to immeubles, and included clothes, tools, weapons and livestock.[3][2] The noun meant movable property in general, figuratively “wealth” (about 1365), and in 1465 Jean de Bueil calls even a prisoner a man's meuble.[8][2]

From 1530 it was restricted to the things that fit out a house, at first collectively, where modern French says mobilier, and in the 16th and 17th centuries also of linen or a silver cup.[2][8] Its present sense, an article of furniture, dates from the 17th century.[2] Heraldry uses it for a figure placed on the shield (1690, Furetière).[8] Phrases include mettre dans ses meubles (1732), to set someone up in a home, sauver les meubles and faire partie des meubles.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1160 – Moeble of soil, in the Roman de Tristan.[3]
  • c. 1165 – Moebles, movable goods, in Guillaume d'Angleterre.[8]
  • 1238 – The spelling meuble.[2]
  • c. 1290 – Biens meubles in law.[3]
  • 1530 – Collective sense “household goods” in Palsgrave.[8]
  • 1606 – Terre meuble in Nicot.[2]
  • 1690 – Furetière records the heraldic sense.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A piece of furniture: a movable object used to furnish a home or a room (bed, chair, table, wardrobe).[10][4][1]
  2. (law) A movable good, personal property: meubles corporels et incorporels.[4][1]
  3. (heraldry) A charge, a figure whose place on the shield is not fixed.[10][1]
  4. (dated) Any object used in the house.[11][8]

Adjective

  1. (law) Movable: biens meubles, as opposed to immeubles.[4][10]
  2. Of soil: loose, easily ploughed: terre meuble.[4][11]

Word family

  • meubler
  • meublé
  • ameublir
  • ameublement
  • démeubler

Usage notes

Sauver les meubles means to save what can be saved from a disaster, and faire partie des meubles to have been somewhere so long that one is part of the furniture.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 1a
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
  9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Meuble.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/meuble. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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