Etymologically
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salope

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 15:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sa.lɔp/[1]

Forms

salope f (plural salopes, masculine (by suppletion) salaud)[1] Early forms salouppe (1607) and saloppe (1611).[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][3] The usual explanation makes it a compound of sale “dirty” and hoppe, a dialect form of huppe “hoopoe”, a bird thought to be very dirty; regional sayings such as “sale comme une hoppe” in Lorraine and “sale comme une oupotte” in Franche-Comté support it.[2][3][4][5] The adjective comes from Frankish *salo (“murky, dull”).[4] Diez, followed by Littré, proposed English sloppy.[6] The Grand Robert takes the feminine noun as a use of the adjective, owing to its form.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sigogne's Œuvres satyriques (1607) have salouppe for a dirty person, a lice-ridden wretch;[2][7][3] Cotgrave in 1611 records saloppe as a word of Orléans, for a slattern.[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it meant very dirty, of a person of either sex (1690, Furetière), a sense that has disappeared in France but lives on in Quebec (petite salope, said to a grubby little girl).[3][8] From dirt the word passed to moral filth: in 1775 a police interrogation records it as an insult to a woman, and it meant a loose woman, then a prostitute (1808).[3][2][7] From Zola (1877) it was used as a general insult for a woman and linked to salaud, of which it became the feminine; it is also used as an insult to a man.[3][9] The masculine salop appears in Flaubert in 1837, and the derivatives include saloperie (1694) and salopette (1834).[2][4][3]

Timeline

  • 1607 – Salouppe, a dirty person, in Sigogne.[2]
  • 1611 – Saloppe, in Cotgrave.[2]
  • 1690 – The adjective, in Furetière.[8]
  • 1694 – Saloperie.[3]
  • 1775 – An insult to a woman.[2][7]
  • 1808 – “Prostitute”.[3]
  • 1877 – A general insult, in Zola.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (vulgar, offensive) A promiscuous woman, a slut.[9][10]
  2. (vulgar, offensive) A contemptible woman; the feminine of salaud.[9][11]
  3. (vulgar) An insult to a man, questioning his manhood or honesty.[9]
  4. (archaic) A very dirty woman, a slattern.[11][8]

Adjective

  1. (very familiar) Of a woman, behaving in a contemptible, disloyal way: elle a été salope avec moi.[11]
  2. (archaic) Very dirty, (literary) vile: les salopes et implacables puissances (Bloy).[8][2]

Word family

  • saloper
  • saloperie
  • salopette
  • salopard

References

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