fesse

See also: fessée, fessé, and fêsse

English

Noun

fesse (plural fesses)

1. Alternative spelling of fess (“horizontal band in heraldry”).
   • 1957 February, “B.T.C. Armorial Bearings”, in Railway Magazine, page 81:

     It is crossed by a fesse argent (silver band) for the roads, and two pairs of narrow barrulets argent for the railways. On the fesse are two bars wavy azure for waterways.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛs/

• Audio (Paris):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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• Homophones: Fès, fèces

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French fesse f, from Old French fesse f, from Vulgar Latin *fissa f (“split, cleft”), from Latin fissum n, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰidtós.

Originally referred to the gluteal cleft. The verb fesser and its derivatives are etymologically unrelated and converged toward fesse in both form and sense through assimilation.

Noun

fesse f (plural fesses)

1. buttock
   • 1785, Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, Les 120 journées de Sodome, ou l'École du libertinage:

     Quant à mon homme, l'œil collé au trou, une main sur mes fesses, l'autre à son vit qu'il agitait peu à peu, il semblait régler son extase sur celle qu'il surprenait.

     As for my man, eyes glued to my hole, one hand on my buttocks, the other on his dick which he stimulated little by little, he seemed to direct his ecstasy on the one he surprised

   • 1857, Charles Baudelaire, “L'imprévu”, in Les Fleurs du mal:

     Chacun de vous m'a fait un temple dans son cœur; / Vous avez, en secret, baisé ma fesse immonde!

     Each of you built me a temple in their heart; / You have, secretly, kissed my vile buttock!

   • 2018, Pierre Guyotat, Ididotie:

     Plus bas, les fesses se recambrent dans un ronronnement, sous le haillon je vois qu'un short court aux plis rougis par le halo du bateau qui s'immobilise les moule, troué jusque le devant, dans l'évasement des cuisses, une braguette d'où pend un bouton [...]

     Lower down, the buttocks arch again with a purr, under the rags I see that a pair of hot pants with its folds reddened by the halo of the stopping boat fit them tightly, with a hole all the way to the front, in the widening of the thighs, a fly with a button hanging from it [...]

Derived terms

• avoir le feu aux fesses
• botter les fesses
• chauffer les fesses
• coller aux fesses
• coûter la peau des fesses
• de la fesse gauche
• entrefesse
• fessé, fessée, fesser, fessier, fesseur, fesseuse
• le beurre, l'argent du beurre et les fesses de la crémière
• ramener ses fesses
• s'occuper de ses fesses

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

fesse

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

Further reading

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

Italian

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfes.se/
• Rhymes: -esse
• Hyphenation: fés‧se

Participle

fesse f pl

1. feminine plural of fesso (“split, having split”)

Adjective

fesse f

1. feminine plural of fesso (“ruptured, cracked; wounded”)

Noun

fesse

1. plural of fessa (“pussy; crack, chink”)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfes.se/
• Rhymes: -esse
• Hyphenation: fés‧se

Noun

fesse

1. plural of fessa (“female twit, female idiot”)

Adjective

fesse f

1. feminine plural of fesso (“silly, idiotic”)

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛs.se/
• Rhymes: -ɛsse
• Hyphenation: fès‧se

Adjective

fesse f

1. feminine plural of fesso (“tired”)

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfɛs.sɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfɛs.se]

Adjective

fesse

1. vocative masculine singular of fessus

Middle French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French fesse f, from Vulgar Latin *fissa, from Latin fissum.

Noun

fesse f (plural fesses)

1. buttock

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Descendants

• French: fesse f

References

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

Old French

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *fissa f (first attested ca. 1200), from Latin fissum n.

Noun

fesse oblique singular, f (oblique plural fesses, nominative singular fesse, nominative plural fesses)

1. buttock

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Descendants

• Middle French: fesse f
  • French: fesse f

References

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