Etymologically
Log in

trou

Etymology and origin of the French word trou

History Permalink
Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1176–81, Chrétien de Troyes, Chevalier au lion (tro)
Inherited from
Latin *traucum
Ultimate origin
Vulgar Latin (*traucum)

Pronunciation

Forms

trou m (plural trous)[1] Old French trau (about 1175), tro, treu, trou from the mid-13th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *traucum, recorded in Medieval Latin as “traugum” in the 8th-century Ripuarian Law.[2][5][3][4][6] The word is found only in Gallo-Romance and Catalan, Bloch and Wartburg think it surely pre-Latin, probably Gaulish, but since the other Celtic languages have nothing similar, the Gauls may have taken it from a people who lived in Gaul before them.[5][2][3][7] Wiktionary mentions a proposed borrowing from Ancient Greek τρῦπα (trûpa, “hole”), and Littré a Germanic link with German Trog (“trough”).[1][8]

Compare Old Occitan trauc and Catalan trau (“buttonhole”); elsewhere in France the same idea is expressed by pertuis or derivatives of forer.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Chrétien de Troyes' Chevalier au lion (1176–81) tro is an opening through a body or into it: tex tros i font.[9][4]

Semantic evolution

A burrow or den is a trau early in the 13th century (Soris ki n'a c'un trau poi dure), a gaping wound about 1225, and a hole made by wear in 1279.[9][8] Trou du cul is in Henri de Mondeville (1314).[9] From the 15th century it named a tavern (Villon), a small out-of-the-way place (1525) and a cramped dwelling (1592); faire son trou “to make one's way” is in Balzac (1833).[2][9]

A debt is a trou in Oudin (1640), whence boucher un trou and the modern trou de la Sécu.[9][2] Boire comme un trou dates from 1649, and the trou normand, a glass of spirits between courses, from 1867–76.[10][4][2] The prison was le trou from 1725, and in golf the trous are the holes (1895).[9] Trou de mémoire and trou d'air (1914) are modern.[2][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – Trau.[2]
  • 1176–81 – Tro, Chrétien de Troyes.[9]
  • Early 13th century – A burrow.[9]
  • 1314 – Trou du cul, Henri de Mondeville.[9]
  • 1525 – A small, remote place.[2]
  • 1640 – A debt, avoir un trou sous le nez.[9]
  • 1649 – Boire comme un trou.[10]
  • 1725 – Prison.[9]
  • 1833 – Faire son trou, Balzac.[9]
  • 1914 – Trou d'air.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hole, a hollow in a surface: un trou dans la route, creuser un trou, trou d'air, an air pocket.[7][1]
  2. An opening through something: le trou de la serrure, un trou dans une chaussette.[9][11]
  3. A burrow, (figurative) faire son trou, to make a place for oneself.[9][1]
  4. (familiar) A small, remote place: un trou perdu, (slang) prison: être au trou.[2][1]
  5. A gap, a blank: trou de mémoire; a deficit: le trou de la Sécurité sociale.[2][1]
  6. (golf) A hole.[9][2]
  7. In phrases: boire comme un trou, trou normand.[2][1]

Word family

  • trouer
  • trouée
  • trou-madame
  • Vulgar Latin *traucum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c 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. 13/2, 228b
  7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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
  10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Trou.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/trou. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·