empennage

English

Etymology

French empennage (“feathers of an arrow”)

Noun

empennage (plural empennages)

1. The tail assembly of an aircraft.
2. The feathers of an arrow or the tail fins of a bomb or rocket used to stabilize the longitudinal axis of the projectile parallel to the flight path.

French

Etymology

From empenner +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

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Noun

empennage f (plural empennages)

1. fletching
2. empennage

Further reading

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