fronce

See also: froncé

French

Etymology

From Middle French fronce, from Old French fronce, fronche (“frown, wrinkles, small creases in cloth”), from Frankish *hrunkja (“wrinkle”) from Proto-Germanic *hrunkijō, *hrunkitō (“fold, wrinkle”), from Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“to turn, bend”). Akin to Old High German runza (“fold, wrinkle, crease”) (German Runzel (“wrinkle”)), Middle Dutch ronse (“frown”), Old Norse hrukka (“wrinkle, crease”) (Icelandic hrukka (“wrinkle, crease, ruck”)). More at ruck.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁɔ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

fronce f (plural fronces)

1. a frown; scowl

Verb

fronce

1. inflection of froncer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• foncer

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Middle French

Noun

fronce f (plural fronces)

1. crease; wrinkle (usually in clothes)

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (fronce, supplement)

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Old French

Alternative forms

• fronche
• frunce
• frunche

Noun

fronce oblique singular, f (oblique plural fronces, nominative singular fronce, nominative plural fronces)

1. wrinkle (of the skin)

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (fronce)