habitant

English

Etymology 1

From French habitant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /abitɑ̃/

Noun

habitant (plural habitants)

1. (Canada) A member of a habitation colony at Stadacona founded by Samuel de Champlain, where Quebec City now lies.

Etymology 2

From Middle English habytaunt, from Middle French habitant. By surface analysis, habit (“to inhabit”) +‎ -ant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhabɪtənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

habitant (plural habitants)

1. (archaic) Synonym of inhabitant / dweller.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 288–289:

     The last dark branches which intercepted his view gave way, and he saw a heap of blackened ruins. Scarcely aware of his own actions, he sprang from his horse. A single glance convinced him it could harbour no human habitant.

   • 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night:

     Myriads of habitants are ever sleeping,
     Or dead, or fled from nameless pestilence!

Catalan

Noun

habitant m (plural habitants)

1. inhabitant

Verb

habitant

1. gerund of habitar

French

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /a.bi.tɑ̃/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃
• Homophone: habitants

Participle

habitant

1. present participle of habiter

Noun

habitant m (plural habitants, feminine habitante)

1. an inhabitant of some place
2. (Quebec, derogatory) someone who has a poor understanding of social conventions, making them look backward
3. (Quebec, dated or derogatory) anybody from a rural or recently colonized area
4. (Canada, historical) a member of the habitation colony at Stadacona founded by Samuel de Champlain, where Quebec City now lies
5. (Quebec, colloquial) Montreal Canadiens hockey club or supporter of Montreal Canadiens hockey club
6. (Louisiana) a farmer

Usage notes

• Although the term originates as legitimate to describe early French colonists and French Canadian farmers, it has now taken a strong pejorative aspect in Quebec French, and using it without an explicit location would be perceived as pejorative.

Synonyms

• (farmer): agriculteur m; (dated) fermier

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

habitant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of habitō

Middle French

Noun

habitant m (plural habitans)

1. inhabitant; dweller

Descendants

• French: habitant