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modèle

Etymology and origin of the French word modèle

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1542, modelle
Borrowed from
Italian modello
Ultimate origin
Italian (modello)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mɔ.dɛl/[1]

Forms

modèle m (plural modèles)[1] Modelle (1542), often feminine in the 16th century (Ronsard: il rompit la modelle); modelle in the Académie of 1694–1740, modèle from 1762.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a term of the arts, borrowed from Italian modello (“a figure to be copied”) (recorded in Michelangelo),[2][5][3][6] from Vulgar Latin *modellus, an alteration with a change of suffix of Latin modulus (“small measure, standard”) (see moule, module), a diminutive of Latin modus (“measure”).[2][5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A 1542 account of the king's buildings has modelle for a figure to be reproduced;[2][5] Bloch–Wartburg and the GLLF date it to Robert Estienne (1549), in the sense “mould”.[3][7]

Semantic evolution

Palissy (1563) used it for a small-scale representation of a building to be built larger, whence modèle réduit.[2][5] Abstractly, it was a thing (1576) or a person (before 1680, La Rochefoucauld) having the qualities of its kind to the highest degree, whence le modèle du genre and the use in apposition, “perfect of its kind” (la capitale-modèle, 1832, Balzac, 1837).[2][5] The classical age stressed what must be imitated: a person of exemplary virtue (Voiture, before 1648, Pascal, 1656), servir de modèle (Racine, 1689), sur le modèle de (Bossuet, 1690) and later prendre modèle sur (1847).[2][5]

In the arts a modèle was also a person who poses for a painter (Félibien, 1676), and for a writer a real person behind a character (Beaumarchais, 1785); in fashion it was largely displaced by mannequin.[2][5] Industrial production gave the sense “type, design” (1841), and the sciences the sense “system representing the essential structures of a reality” (1953), after English model (Bohr, 1913).[2][5] Modeler dates from 1583–1585, modelage from 1830 and modéliste from 1832.[3][5] English model was borrowed from French modelle in the 1570s.[8]

Timeline

  • 1542 – Modelle in the arts.[2]
  • 1563 – A scale model, in Palissy.[2]
  • 1570s – English model.[8]
  • 1583 – Modeler.[3]
  • Before 1648 – An example to imitate, in Voiture.[2]
  • 1676 – An artist's model, in Félibien.[2]
  • 1762 – The spelling modèle in the Académie.[2]
  • 1837 – In apposition, in Balzac.[2]
  • 1841 – A type of manufacture.[2]
  • 1953 – A scientific model.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A model, pattern, example to follow: suivre un modèle, prendre modèle sur qqn.[9][1]
  2. A perfect example: un modèle de vertu, le modèle du genre.[2][4]
  3. An artist's model, a sitter.[4][2]
  4. A model, type, design (of a product): le dernier modèle, un modèle de robe.[2][1]
  5. Modèle réduit: a scale model.[7][1]
  6. (science) A model: modèle mathématique.[2][1]

Adjective

  1. Model, exemplary: un élève modèle.[2][5]

Word family

  • modelage
  • modeler
  • modélisation
  • modéliser
  • modélisme
  • modéliste
  • modeleur

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 p q r s t u v 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 c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 18a
  7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Modèle.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/mod%C3%A8le. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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