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pavillon

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Etymology and origin of the French word pavillon

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1112 Voyage de saint Brendan More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin papilio via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin pāpiliō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pāpiliō
French pavillon
Italian padiglione
From the same root
Spanish pabellón ← pāpiliō

Pronunciation

  • /pa.vi.jɔ̃/[1]

Forms

pavillon m (plural pavillons)[1] Old French paveilun (early 12th century), paveillon (about 1130), then pavillon (about 1165).[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French paveilun, inherited from Latin pāpiliō (“butterfly, tent”).[2][5][6][1] The Latin word for “butterfly” came to mean “tent”, a sense recorded from the 3rd or 4th century, because a tent's hangings looked like the insect's wings.[2][6][5] The same Latin word gave papillon, its doublet.[1][5] Cognate with Occitan pabalho, Catalan pavelló, Spanish pabellón and Italian padiglione.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, as paveilun in the Voyage de saint Brendan (early 12th century), is a military tent.[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

From the tent the word passed to other hangings: the canopy over an altar (1260), the canopy of a bed (1317), the cloth covering the ciborium (1569) and, in heraldry, the tent-like drapery around a sovereign's arms (1681).[2][5] A ship's flag, a piece of cloth like that of a tent, was a pavillon from 1541, and any flag from 1635;[2][5] baisser le pavillon “to admit defeat” is in Mme de Sévigné in 1669.[2][5]

In building, the word named a wing attached to a larger structure (1503), then a separate main building (1676) and a small detached building in a garden or park (1690).[2][5] Only in the 20th century did it come to mean a small detached house on the edge of a town (1926, Giraudoux), the pavillon de banlieue.[2][5]

By likeness of shape it is the flared bell of a trumpet (Mersenne, 1636), the outer ear (Cuvier, 1800) and the roof of a car (1907).[2][5][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1112 – Paveilun “military tent” in the Voyage de saint Brendan.[2][3]
  • c. 1165 – The form pavillon in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[2]
  • 1260 – Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers uses it for an altar canopy.[2][7]
  • 1503 – First use for a wing of a building.[2][5]
  • 1541 – First record of the nautical flag.[2][5]
  • 1636 – Mersenne writes of the pavillon de la trompette.[2]
  • 1669 – Mme de Sévigné uses baisser le pavillon figuratively.[2][5]
  • 1690 – Furetière records it for a small building in a garden or park.[2]
  • 1800 – Cuvier names the pavillon de l'oreille.[2]
  • 1926 – Giraudoux uses it for a suburban house.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small detached building in a garden, park or estate, a pavilion or lodge: un pavillon de chasse.[9][10][2]
  2. A small or medium-sized detached house with a garden, especially in the suburbs.[9][2]
  3. (architecture) A wing or block of a larger building; a separate building of a hospital or an exhibition.[9][2]
  4. (nautical) A flag showing a ship's nationality or company, or a signal flag;[9][2] baisser pavillon: to give in.[9][2]
  5. (music) The flared bell of a wind instrument.[2][1]
  6. (anatomy) The outer ear, pavillon de l'oreille.[2][5]
  7. (archaic) A tent, especially a military one.[10][2]
  8. (heraldry) The tent-shaped drapery enclosing a sovereign's arms.[10][7]

Word family

  • pavillonnaire

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 x y z 27 28 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pavillon.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/pavillon. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

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