charade French · revision 16048

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1770, Sabatier|origins=oc charrado}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃa.ʁad/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''charade''' ''f'' (plural charades)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[bor|oc|charrado|t=chat, conversation]] (Provençal),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|13/2, 362b) a derivative of [[oc|charrá|t=to chat, chatter]], an imitative word related to [[it|ciarlare|t=to prattle]] and [[es|charlar]] (compare [[charabia]], [[charlatan]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(REW 1935) Littré instead took it from a Provençal “charrada” “cartload”, used by a playful metaphor.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Sabatier's ''Dictionnaire de littérature'' (1770) presents it as a Languedoc word for talk that passes the time: ''allons faire des charades'', let's go and spend the evening at someone's house.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It soon became the name of a word game (''Encyclopédie'', Supplement, 1777): a word of several syllables is guessed from definitions of words that sound like each syllable (''mon premier'', ''mon second'') and of the whole (''mon tout'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Bloch and Wartburg date this sense to 1798.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) By extension Balzac (1835) used it for something strange or puzzling (''une charade vivante'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In acted charades (''charades en action'') the parts are mimed.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989) English ''charade'' was borrowed in 1776.^(Etymonline) In Louisiana French it still means a chat.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1770 – A Languedoc word, in Sabatier.^(TLFi)

+ * 1776 – English ''charade''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1777 – A word game, in the ''Encyclopédie''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1834 – ''Charadier'' in Balzac.^(TLFi)

+ * 1835 – “Puzzle”, in Balzac.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|charade]] (word riddle): ''mon premier est…, mon tout est…'', ''charade en action'': acted charade.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Something puzzling, a riddle.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Louisiana)'' A chat, conversation.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[charabia]]

+ * [[charlatan]]

+ * [[en|charade]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}