méchant French · revision 16968

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1165–1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Erec et Enide|origins=la cado}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /me.ʃɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''méchant''' (feminine méchante, masculine plural méchants, feminine plural méchantes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|mescheant]] (about 1165), ''meskant'' (early 14th century), ''meschant'' (14th century); ''méchant'' from 1549.^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) The Académie spelled it ''meschant'' in 1694 and 1718, ''méchant'' from 1740.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|mescheant|t=unlucky]], the present participle of the old verb [[m|fro|mescheoir|t=to befall ill]] (1155–1637),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) formed from [[mé-]] and [[m|fro|cheoir|t=to fall]], the old form of [[choir]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) itself from [[la|cadō|t=to fall]].^(FEW|2, 27b) Properly the word described someone to whom things fall out badly; its sense development parallels that of [[mauvais]].^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Compare [[pcd|mécant]] and [[wa|mèchant]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Chrétien de Troyes's ''Erec et Enide'' (1165–1170) has ''mescheant'' “unlucky”;^(TLFi) in Old French it meant “ill-starred, wretched”, very close to the first sense of [[malheureux]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of things it meant “worthless, paltry” in Chrétien's ''Cligès'' (1176), a sense still found in literary style (''un méchant stylo'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From there it seems to have reached the modern sense “bad”, first of something lacking good qualities or of abstract things such as a look or an air (1360–1370), then of a person (1549, in Picard).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The sense “bad” drove out the old one in the 16th century.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ As a noun (1360–1370) a ''méchant'' was a person bent on doing harm, often in a religious context; this use is now literary or playful, from children's language.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) ''Faire le méchant'' (1690, Furetière) meant “to fly into a rage”; it is now said mostly of children, with affectionate indulgence.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) By antiphrasis, sports slang of 1922 used ''méchant'' for “terrific, tremendous”.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) The adverb [[méchamment]] is first found as ''mescheandement'' (1280).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1155 – The verb ''mescheoir'', in Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * 1165–1170 – ''Mescheant'' “unlucky”, in Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1176 – “Worthless”, in ''Cligès''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1280 – ''Mescheandement''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1360–1370 – “Bad”; the noun “wicked person”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1549 – The spelling ''méchant'' (Robert Estienne).^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1690 – ''Faire le méchant''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1922 – Slang “terrific”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|mean|alt=Mean]], unkind, [[m|en|nasty]]; wicked.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(before the noun)'' Dangerous or unpleasant: ''une méchante affaire'', ''méchante humeur''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(before the noun, literary or dated)'' Worthless, paltry, wretched; insignificant: ''un méchant billet''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(before the noun, slang)'' Terrific, tremendous.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A wicked person; in fiction, the [[m|en|villain]], the bad guy, ''faire le méchant'', to turn nasty (often of a child).^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[méchamment]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[choir]]

+ * [[mauvais]]

+ * [[chance]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}