faux pas

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From the French phrase faux pas, of the same meaning; composed of faux, “false, wrong”, and pas, “step”.

Pronunciation

Singular

• (RP) IPA: /fəʊ pɑː/, X-SAMPA: /f@U pA:/

Plural

• (RP) IPA: /fəʊ pɑːz/, X-SAMPA: /f@U pa:z/

Noun

faux pas (plural faux pas)

1. A blunder (especially used in social contexts); a misstep.

Synonyms

• (a mistake): blooper, blunder, boo-boo, defect, error, fault, fluff, gaffe, lapse, mistake, misstep, slip, stumble, thinko, Freudian slip
• See also Wikisaurus:error

Translations

A social blunder

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 失禮 (cmn), 失礼 (cmn) (shīlǐ), 失態 (cmn), 失态 (cmn) (shītài), 失足 (cmn) (shīzú), 過失 (cmn), 过失 (cmn) (guòshī)

• Czech: faux pas (cs) n
• Finnish: kömmähdys, etikettivirhe, moka (fi)
• French: faux pas (fr) m, (colloquial) impair (fr) m

• German: Fauxpas (de) m
• Italian: passo falso
• Japanese: 過失 (ja) (かしつ, kashitsu)
• Russian: ложный шаг (ru) (lóžnyj šag) m, некрасивый поступок (ru) (nekrasívyj prostúpok) m, проступок (ru) (prostúpok) m, оплошность (ru) (oplóšnostʹ) f (blunder, mistake)
• Spanish: (informally) metida de pata (es) f, metedura de pata (es) f

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fo pa/

Noun

faux pas m (plural faux pas)

1. stumble, misstep, false step
2. (figuratively) faux pas, blunder