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panier

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Etymology and origin of the French word panier

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1170 Livre des Rois More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin panarium via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin pānis

Pronunciation

Forms

panier m (plural paniers)[1] Anglo-Norman spellings include paigner, panere and panyer.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French panier, inherited from Latin pānārium (“bread basket”), derived from pānis (“bread”).[3][4][5][6] The word lost its link with bread as soon as it is recorded, the bread basket having become any basket.[4][7] Littré rejects a derivation from penārium “storeroom”, since the oldest texts have ⟨a⟩.[7]

Cognate with Occitan panier, Catalan paner and Italian paniere.[7] The English word pannier was borrowed from the Old French word about 1300.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1170 in the Livre des Rois, already in the general sense of a wicker or rush basket for carrying provisions and goods.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle French the word was extended to containers of other materials used in the same way (1360, un panier d'argent), and later to the panier à bouteilles (1765) and the panier à salade (1868), earlier panier pour égoutter la salade (1768).[3][4] From the wire mesh of that basket, and perhaps the shaking it gets, slang took panier (1814) and then panier à salade (1822) for the police van carrying prisoners.[4][3]

As a receptacle it named the wastepaper basket (1848, figuratively), whence jeter au panier (1862) and mettre au panier.[4][3] It also named containers for animals: a straw beehive (1652), a lobster pot (1681), a bird trap (1834).[4] The wicker case at the back of a coach (1690), which carried luggage and poor travellers, gave the name of a light wicker carriage (1864).[4][3] In 18th-century fashion it was the hooped underskirt that widened a dress at the hips (1720).[3][4] In basketball, after English basket, it is the hoop (1925) and a goal scored (1927).[3][4][9]

By metonymy it is a basketful (1450–60), a packed meal (1884) and, in le panier de la ménagère (1963), the household shopping used to measure the cost of living.[3][4] Of its many phrases, le dessus du panier “the best” (1675) replaced le pis du panier (1611), and panier percé (1690) has come to mean a spendthrift.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1170 – First recorded in the Livre des Rois.[3]
  • 1360 – A panier d'argent is listed in an inventory of Louis I of Anjou.[3]
  • 1534 – Rabelais writes adieu, paniers, vendanges sont faictez.[3]
  • 1690 – Furetière records the wicker case of a coach and panier percé.[3][4]
  • 1720 – Used of the hooped underskirt.[3]
  • 1814 – Slang panier “police van”;[3] panier à salade follows in 1822.[3]
  • 1925 – Balle au panier “basketball”; the goal scored in 1927.[3]
  • 1963 – Le panier de la ménagère is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A basket, with a handle or handles, of wicker, plastic or metal, for holding or carrying goods: un panier d'osier rempli de cerises.[10][11][3]
  2. A basketful.[11][3]
  3. A wastepaper basket: mettre au panier “to throw away”.[10][11]
  4. Panier à salade: a salad shaker;[3][4] (familiar) a police van.[3][4]
  5. Panier percé: a spendthrift.[10][4]
  6. (history of costume) A hooped petticoat that made skirts stand out at the hips.[11][3]
  7. (basketball) The hoop, and a goal scored.[1][3]
  8. (economics) Le panier de la ménagère: the typical household shopping used to measure the cost of living.[3][4]
  9. (Internet) A shopping basket.[1]

Word family

  • panerée
  • pain
  • Latin pānārium

Usage notes

Mettre tous ses œufs dans le même panier is to risk everything on one thing, and mettre dans le même panier to judge people or things alike, usually unfavourably.[10][1] Le dessus du panier is the best of something.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  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 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 535b
  7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Panier.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/panier. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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