racaille

French

FWOTD – 11 October 2014

Etymology

From Old French rascaille (“outcast, rabble”), perhaps from rasque (“mud, filth, scab, dregs”), from Vulgar Latin *rasicō (“to scrape”). Cognate with English rascal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.kaj/

Noun

racaille f (plural racailles)

1. (derogatory) people, mainly young, who engage in antisocial behaviour; rabble, riffraff; rascals
   • 2005, a resident of an estate hit by rioting and the Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy:

     resident: Monsieur Sarkozy, est-ce que vous pouvez nous débarrasser de cette racaille ?

     Sarkozy: Vous voulez qu'on vous débarrasse de cette racaille, on va le faire.

     resident: Mr. Sarkozy, can you get rid of this rabble for us?

     Sarkozy: You want us to get rid of this rabble? We're on the case.

Anagrams

• caillera (verlan)

Derived terms

• kaïra (verlan)

Further reading

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