camouflage French · revision 16126

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1887, Hogier-Grison}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ka.mu.flaʒ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''camouflage''' ''m'' (plural camouflages)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|camoufler|-age]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary) The verb ''camoufler'', a word of thieves' slang recorded from 1821, is probably formed on the stem of [[camouflet]] “puff of smoke blown in a sleeper's face”, the idea of concealment growing out of that of smoke; this is the view of the TLFi, the FEW and Bloch and Wartburg.^(TLFi)^(FEW|16, 475a)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Others derived it from [[it|camuffare|t=to disguise, to deceive]]; the TLFi notes that this would still need ''camouflet'' to explain the ⟨fl⟩.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Etymonline gives the Italian origin, with the influence of ''camouflet''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first recorded in 1887, in Hogier-Grison's ''Les Hommes de proie'', for a [[m|en|disguise]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In theatre slang it meant the complete transformation of an actor for a part, by costume and make-up.^(TLFi) During the First World War it took on, like the verb, the military sense of hiding troops and equipment from enemy observation (1914–1917), which led to figurative uses for disguising the truth.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi) Larousse also records its use for a coding procedure in signals and for the means by which animals and plants blend with their surroundings.^(Larousse)

+

+ English took the word in 1917 as [[en|camouflage]]; an American magazine of that year presented it as the new name for “fooling the enemy”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1821 – The verb ''se camoufler'' “to disguise oneself” is cited from thieves' slang.^(TLFi)

+ * 1887 – ''Camouflage'' “disguise” is first recorded.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1914–1917 – It is used for military concealment.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 1916 – The derivative ''camoufleur'' is recorded.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1917 – English borrows the word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|concealment]] of troops and military equipment from the enemy; the means used for it: ''tenue de camouflage''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Disguising or hiding the truth by changing appearances: ''camouflage de bénéfices''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(biology)'' The means by which an animal or plant becomes hard to tell from its surroundings.^(Larousse)

+ # A coding procedure that replaces key words of a message with agreed words or groups of figures.^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[camoufleur]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[camoufler]]

+ * [[camouflet]]

+ * [[en|camouflage]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}