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moule

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Etymology and origin of the French word moule

moule1 mould

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1100 Rashi's glosses, late 11th century
Borrowed from
Old French modle
Ultimate origin
Latin modus

Pronunciation

Forms

moule m (plural moules)[1] Old French modle and molle;[2][3][4] moule is found in the 15th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

The word for the mould is an old borrowing, first as borrowed from Old French modle, of Latin modulus (“small measure”), a diminutive of modus (“measure”).[2][5][3][6] The Latin word was used in architecture, and a later borrowing of it gave module, while an altered form is the source of modèle.[6][3]

Cognate with Italian modano, Old Occitan mole and Portuguese molde;[6][7][8] Spanish molde comes from Gallo-Romance.[6][7][8] English mould is listed by Littré beside it.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, modle in Rashi's glosses (late 11th century), means “model”;[2][3] about 1165 Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses molle for a hollow form into which a liquid is poured to set.[2]

Semantic evolution

The Old French sense “model” was taken over by modèle, but its idea lies behind the modern senses.[3] From 1260 the word also named a solid form on which a malleable matter is pressed, which gave technical senses: the legal gauge for the meshes of a net (1260), a measure for firewood (1316, still regional in the Lyonnais, Switzerland and the West) and the core of a covered button (1664).[2][3] A kitchen and baking tin is recorded in 1737.[2]

In the 17th century it took the abstract sense “type, model” in phrases such as jetés dans le même moule (1678), fait au moule “well made” (before 1709) and le moule en est rompu (1718), later brisé (1764), said of someone or something without equal.[2][3][4] In art and literature it names a fixed form imposed on the writer (1926).[2][3]

Timeline

  • Late 11th century – Modle “model” in Rashi's glosses.[2]
  • c. 1165 – Molle “hollow mould” in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[2]
  • 1260 – Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers uses it for a solid model and the gauge of net meshes.[2]
  • 1316 – A measure of firewood.[2]
  • 1664 – The core of a button.[2]
  • 1678 – Madame de Sévigné writes jetées dans le même moule.[2]
  • 1718 – The Académie records le moule en est rompu.[2]
  • 1737 – First used of a kitchen mould.[2]
  • 1926 – A fixed literary form, le moule de l'alexandrin.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mould: a hollow form into which a liquid or paste is poured so that it sets in that shape; also a solid form on which a soft material is shaped.[8][2]
  2. (cooking) A baking tin or mould: moule à gaufres.[2][1]
  3. (figurative) A model or type;[2][3] être jetés dans le même moule: to be strikingly alike.[2][3]
  4. Le moule est cassé, le moule en est perdu: there will never be another like it.[4][3]
  5. (art, literature) A fixed form imposed on the artist.[2][3]

Word family

  • mouler
  • moulage
  • mouleur
  • moulure
  • démouler
  • surmouler
  • mouleau

moule2 mussel

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1240–1280
Inherited from
Latin *musclus
Ultimate origin
Latin musculus

Pronunciation

Forms

moule f (plural moules)[1] Old French moulle, muscle and mousle.[3][10][4] Anglo-Norman mosle and musle.[11]

Etymology

The word for the mussel is inherited from Vulgar Latin *musclus, from Latin mūsculus (“mussel, little mouse”).[1][12][6][10] Rey notes that the Latin word for the mussel had a short /u/ and no sure etymology, but is usually taken to be the same word as the Latin noun “little mouse”, a diminutive of mūs (“mouse”) (see muscle), since Ancient Greek μῦς (mûs) meant both “mouse” and “mussel”.[3][9]

The Occitan and Catalan forms with ⟨muscl-⟩ come from a form with /u/;[6] Littré cites Languedocien muscle and Catalan musclo, and Old High German muscla and German Muschel.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as moulles between 1240 and 1280,[3][8] and in Baudouin de Condé about 1260.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word names the edible bivalve that clings to rocks by its byssus; it gave the names of dishes such as moules marinière and moules frites, a traditional dish in northern France and Belgium.[3]

From the end of the 19th century, under the influence of mou and mollusque, it was used of a spineless, clumsy or foolish person (1878 according to Rey, 1887 according to the GLLF), also as an adjective.[3][4][13] This sense in turn gave the insult moule à gaufres (1867).[3] In slang it also names the female genitals (1928).[3]

Timeline

  • 1240–1280 – First recorded as moulles.[3]
  • 14th century – The form moule appears.[4][10]
  • 1681 – The derivative moulière “mussel bed” appears.[3]
  • 1690 – Furetière records moule d'eau douce.[4]
  • 1878 – Used of a spineless, foolish person.[3]
  • 1928 – Recorded in slang for the female genitals.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mussel, an edible bivalve with a bluish oblong shell that lives fixed to rocks: moules marinière.[8][3]
  2. Moule d'eau douce: a freshwater mussel (anodonta, mulette).[8][4]
  3. (familiar) A spineless, clumsy person; a fool.[8][4]
  4. (vulgar, slang) The female genitals.[3][1]

Word family

  • moulière

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 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 15a
  6. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  12. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 261b
  13. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Moule.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/moule. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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