flic French · revision 17215

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=1828 (flique), 1856 (flic)|origins=de Flick}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /flik/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''flic''' ''m'' (plural flics, feminine fliquesse)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Flique'' “police superintendent” (about 1828, 1836), ''fligue'', ''flic'' from 1856.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ ''Fligman'' is found in 1792.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[bor|de|Flick|t=boy, young man]], a word of German thieves' slang recorded from 1510.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|15/2, 143a) The GLLF adds that it was first used in France by Jewish criminals, whose slang held many Germanic words.^(GLLF 1989) Rey and the Grand Robert also consider [[m|de|Fliege|t=fly; police informer]], compare French [[mouche]] “police spy”; the phrase “flic à dard” (“fligue à dard”, 1836), an armed sergeant, supports this second view.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) The Petit Robert gives only “Fliege”.^(Petit Robert 2007) Wiktionary takes “fligue” as short for the earlier “fligman”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Pierre Guiraud saw instead a deverbal noun from a verb “flica” “to slap”, a variant of “flaquer” “to whip”, of imitative origin, with the same image as [[cogne]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Esnault records ''flique'' about 1828 for a police superintendent, ''flic'' in its present sense is dated 1856.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word spread only at the beginning of the 20th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) First a police officer on the beat, it came to mean any policeman, and lost so much of its scornful tone that police officers use it of themselves.^(DHLF 1992) By extension it is applied, disparagingly, to anyone who likes to keep watch and enforce order.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) It gave ''flicard'' (1883), ''flicaille'' “the police” (1939), and the verb ''fliquer'' and noun ''flicage'' (about 1970), linked with the anti-repressive mood of the students of 1968.^(DHLF 1992) Its back slang ''keuf'' is written from 1978.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1792 – ''Fligman'' in a Père Duchêne pamphlet.^(BHVF)

+ * c. 1828 – ''Flique'', a police superintendent.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1836 – ''Flique'' in Parent-Duchâtelet's study of prostitution in Paris.^(TLFi)

+ * 1856 – ''Flic'', a policeman.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1883 – ''Flicard''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1939 – ''Flicaille''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1970 – ''Fliquer'' and ''flicage''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1978 – ''Keuf'' in writing.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(familiar)'' A [[m|en|policeman]], [[m|en|cop]]: ''appeler les flics'', ''flic en civil''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar, derogatory)'' A person who likes to keep watch and enforce order.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[flicard]]

+ * [[flicaille]]

+ * [[fliquer]]

+ * [[flicage]]

+ * [[keuf]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The feminine is ''une flic'', also ''fliquesse'' or ''fliquette''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}