Etymologically
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1900s

French words first recorded in the 20th century

5 French words whose earliest known written record dates from the 20th century, earliest first. Words dated only to part of the century follow the ones with a year.

  1. taxi

    1905

    It is a clipping (1907) from French taximètre (1905), which the inventor of the meter had first called taxamètre (1901), from German Taxameter (1890). The German word was formed either from Medieval…

  2. radio

    1907

    It is a clipping of several compounds in radio-: radiotélégramme, radiotélégraphiste, radiographie, radiodiffusion and others. English radio developed the same senses from 1906 to 1922. The element…

  3. dingue

    1915

    The origin is uncertain. The TLFi takes it as probably a back-formation from French dinguer (“to stagger about; to wander”), and compares an argot word for malaria (1890). The Grand Robert and the…

  4. super

    1951

    The adjective is the prefix super- used as an independent word. The prefix is from Latin super (“above, over”), the doublet of the inherited sur. The noun “super” (1956) is a clipping of…

  5. télé

    1952

    It is a clipping of télévision, matching English tele, occasionally used (1946). The element télé- is from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “far off”).

All French words by century →