fauteuil

See also: Fauteuil

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French fauteuil, from Germanic. Cognate with Old English fealdestōl (“folding-chair”). See also English faldistory.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fəʊˈtɜː.i/, /ˈfəʊ.tɜː.ɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfoʊ.tɪl/, /ˈfoʊ.tɔɪ/, /foʊˈteɪ/

Noun

fauteuil (plural fauteuils)

1. An armchair.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 96:

     Gaston of Orleans was seated in a fauteuil, wrapped in a loose dressing-gown, everything about him betokening an indolent love of ease.

2. The chair of a presiding officer.
3. (by extension) Membership in the Académie française.

References

• “fauteuil”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Dutch

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French fauteuil. Doublet of vouwstoel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /foːˈtœy̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

fauteuil m (plural fauteuils, diminutive fauteuiltje n)

1. armchair

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French faulxdestueil, fauldesteul, fausdestueil, from Old French faudestuel, faldestoel, borrowed from Frankish *faldistōl (“folding seat”). Cognate with English foldstool, faldstool.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fo.tœj/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

fauteuil m (plural fauteuils)

1. armchair
2. (figurative) seat: office or position
   • 1791, National Constituent Assembly, Constitution française, présentée au roi par l'Assemblée nationale, le 3 septembre 1791 [French constitution, presented to the King by the National Assembly on 3 September 1791], Dijon: Imprimerie de P. Causse, page 42:

     Pendant la durée du comité général, les assistants se retireront, le fauteuil du président sera vacant, l’ordre sera maintenu par le vice-président.

     During the term of the general committee, should the assistants retire [or] should the chair of the president be vacant, [then] order shall be maintained by the vice-president.

Derived terms

• fauteuil roulant
• fauteuil à bascule

Descendants

• → Belarusian: фатэ́ль (fatélʹ)
• → Bulgarian: фотьо́йл (fotjójl)
• → English: fauteuil
• → Dutch: fauteuil
• → German: Fauteuil, Fotöl, Fotöll, Fotölch
  • → Hungarian: fotel
  • → Polish: fotel
• → Luxembourgish: Fotell
• → Macedonian: фотелја (fotelja)
• → Romanian: fotoliu
• → Swedish: fåtölj
• → Ukrainian: фоте́ль (fotélʹ)
• → Vietnamese: phô-tơi

Further reading

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