escarbille
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French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Ultimately from Middle Dutch schrabben, schrabbelen (see modern Dutch schrapen (“scrape, rake”)).
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio: (file)
Noun[edit]
escarbille f (plural escarbilles)
- a small piece of unburned coal mixed with ashes
- 1885, Émile Zola, Germinal[1]:
- la dernière pelletée d’escarbilles était brûlée depuis la veille
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- a speck of ember that escapes from a fire and floats in the air; floating ember
- 1953, Simone de Beauvoir, Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée [Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter]:
- J’aimais les trains. Penchée à la portière, j’offrais mon visage au vent et aux escarbilles […]
- I love trains. Leaning out the door I offer my face to the wind and the embers […]
Further reading[edit]
- “escarbille”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.