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tirade

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Etymology and origin of the French word tirade

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1450–1500 Epitaphe du bon Relay More words from the 15th century
Ultimate origin
French tirer,-ade
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French tirer
French tirade
English tirade
From the same root
French attirer ← tirer
French retirer ← tirer
French tiroir ← tirer

Pronunciation

Forms

tirade f (plural tirades)[1]

Etymology

It is probably formed from French tirer + -ade, with a suffix that was used from the 15th century to make new words.[2][3][4][1] It has also been taken as a borrowing of Italian tirata (“act of pulling”), the noun use of the feminine past participle of tirare, but Bloch and Wartburg and Rey prefer the French derivation.[2][3] Etymonline allows that the French word may come from or have been influenced by the Italian one.[5]

Littré compares Occitan tirada and Spanish tirada (“reach, stroke, throw”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found, once, in the second half of the 15th century in the Epitaphe du bon Relay, a hunting term for the act of drawing the hounds away.[7][3][8]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century it meant the act of drawing a bow (about 1550)[3][8] and, in tout d'une tirade or d'une tirade, “at one go, without stopping” (Ronsard, 1552), a phrase still used by Saint-Simon and recorded until the 19th century.[7][3][4] It also named a pull or a continuous drawing motion, as in the quartering of a condemned man by horses (1582), a sense now kept only in sport.[7][3]

By metaphor it came to mean, from about 1610, the continuous development of one idea or a string of commonplaces loosely tied to the subject, often with a pejorative note today.[7][3] Guez de Balzac uses it before 1654 for a long uninterrupted series, and Mme de Sévigné in 1672 for a passage of prose developing one idea and for the lines an actor speaks without interruption, now the commonest sense.[7][3][8]

English took the word as tirade in 1801.[5]

Timeline

  • 1450–1500 – A single record in the Epitaphe du bon Relay, in hunting.[7]
  • 1552 – Ronsard writes d'une tirade “at one go”.[7]
  • 1578 – Du Bartas uses it of a flight.[7]
  • 1582 – L'Estoile's journal uses it of a quartering by horses.[7]
  • c. 1610 – Florimond de Raemond uses it of a development of commonplaces.[7][3]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “pulling motion”.[8][3]
  • 1644 – Guez de Balzac uses it of the length and difficulty of an affair.[7]
  • 1672 – Mme de Sévigné uses it of a passage of prose and of an actor's long speech.[7][3]
  • 1801 – English borrows it.[5]
  • 1903 – Used in sport for a sudden pull.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (theatre) A long speech delivered by a character without interruption: la tirade du nez in Rostand's Cyrano.[9][10][11]
  2. A long, continuous development of one idea, in writing or speech.[9][6]
  3. (often pejorative) A long, emphatic string of words, a harangue: une tirade d'injures.[9][11][6]
  4. (music) A run of diatonic passing notes between two notes of a melody.[7][6]
  5. (sport) A sudden pull, in wrestling or gymnastics.[7][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ 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
  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 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 Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Tirade.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/tirade. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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