Le Havre

English

Alternative forms

• Havre

Etymology

From French Le Havre (“The Harbor”), a 19th-century French clipping of Le Havre-de-Grâce (“The Harbor of Grace”), a combination of its earlier Norman name Hable (“Harbor”) and the short-lived name Ville-de-Grâce, which it bore following its 1517 refounding by Francis I, referencing the supposedly miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary acquired by Cambrai Cathedral in 1450 and known in French as Notre-Dame de Grâce. Nearby Honfleur had similarly named its cathedral (subsequently destroyed by a landslide) in its honor.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lə ˈhɑːvɹə/, /lə ˈhɑː(ɹ)v/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Proper noun

Le Havre

1. A city and major port beside the mouth of the River Seine in Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France.

Synonyms

• (historical): Franciscopolis, Ville-de-Grâce, Le Havre-de-Grâce, Le Havre-de-Marat, Havre-Marat

Translations

city

• Arabic: لُو هَافْر m (lū hāfr)
• Armenian: Հավր (Havr)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 勒阿弗爾／勒阿弗尔 (Lè'āfú'ěr), 利哈佛 (Lìhāfó)

• Danish: Le Havre
• Dutch: Le Havre n
• French: Le Havre (fr) m
• German: Le Havre (de) n
• Hebrew: לה הבר
• Japanese: ル・アーヴル (Ru Āvuru), ルアーヴル (Ruāvuru)
• Latin: Portus Gratiae m, Franciscopolis f
• Marathi: ल आव्र (la āvra)
• Norman: Lé Hâvre m
• Polish: Hawr (pl) m
• Portuguese: Havre m
• Russian: Гавр (ru) m (Gavr), Ле-А́вр (Le-Ávr)

Anagrams

• haverel

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lə avʁ/, /lə ɑvʁ/ ^{(aspirated h)}

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Le Havre m

1. A city on the north coast of Normandy, France

Usage notes

Since "Le Havre" begins with "Le", a definite article, it follows the same rules as the lowercase "le", i.e. if you were to say "I am from Le Havre", it would be "Je viens du Havre", du being a contraction of de and le; or if you were to say "I am going to go to Le Havre", similarly it would be "Je vais aller au Havre". The same rule applies for other towns, for example Le Mans. Curiously, The "de + le = du" and "à + le = au" rules don't apply to surnames, so you say "La politique de Le Pen" as opposed to "La politique du Pen".

Derived terms

• havrais
• Havrais/Havraise
• nautilite triangulaire du Havre