béjaune

French

Alternative forms

• bec-jaune, bec jaune (obsolete)

Etymology

Univerbation of bec +‎ jaune, literally “yellow beak”. The pronunciation /be/ represents the Middle French preconsonantal form, later displaced by the prevocalic/pausal pronunciation /bɛk/, but preserved in idioms (cf. bédane).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /be.ʒon/

• Audio (Belgium)

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• Audio

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Noun

béjaune m (plural béjaunes)

1. greenhorn (inexperienced person)

Further reading

• “béjaune”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.