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salaud

Etymology and origin of the French word salaud

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1584 (salaude); 13th century (Dauzat)
Ultimate origin
Frankish (*salo)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French sale
French salaud

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sa.lo/[1]

Forms

salaud m (plural salauds, feminine salaude or salope)[1] Sometimes written salop by attraction of the feminine salope.[2][1]

Etymology

It is formed from French sale + -aud.[2][3][4][1][5] “Sale” “dirty” comes from Frankish *salo (“murky, dull”), matched by Old English salu and Old Irish sail.[6][7] The feminine “salaude” was supplanted by salope, which Bloch and Wartburg explain as probably “sale” combined with “hoppe”, a dialect word for the hoopoe, a bird known as very dirty.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dauzat cites a 13th-century text from Provins.[2][4] Rey dates it from 1584, and Guillaume Bouchet's Serées (1597) has the adjective une salaude femme, a very dirty woman.[6][2][8]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it meant a very dirty person in d'Aubigné (1617).[2] The Académie (1798) records it as an insult, the feminine for a prostitute, and, from the mid-19th century the masculine is a morally repugnant man, as in Zola (1885); it can also mean a lecherous man, without real disapproval.[2][6] Since Rictus (1897) mon salaud can be said with admiring surprise to a lucky or bold friend.[2][4] In Canadian French the adjective salaud simply means “dirty” (1934).[9]

Timeline

  • 13th century – Provins, according to Dauzat.[2]
  • 1597 – Adjective salaude, Guillaume Bouchet.[2]
  • 1617 – Noun, a dirty person, d'Aubigné.[2]
  • 1798 – An insult, Académie.[2][6]
  • 1885 – A morally repugnant man, Zola.[2]
  • 1897 – Ben, mon salaud !, Rictus.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (vulgar) A bastard, a contemptible man: il s'est conduit comme un salaud, bande de salauds !.[9][1]
  2. (familiar, not insulting) Mon salaud: you lucky devil.[9][4]
  3. (obsolete) A very dirty person.[2][1]

Adjective

  1. Vile, base: être salaud, (Canada) dirty.[9][1]

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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d 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. 17, 13b
  6. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Salaud.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/salaud. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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