sauvage

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French sauvage, salvage, from Vulgar Latin salvāticus, from Latin silvāticus, from silva (“forest”).

Pronunciation

• (France) IPA^(key): /so.vaʒ/

  • (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /sɔ.vaʒ/

  • (file)

Adjective

sauvage (plural sauvages)

1. wild, untouched, unspoiled, pristine

   une région sauvage ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. wild, untamed, not domesticated (often used to qualify a wild alternative for a cultivated plant or domestic animal)

   Antonyms: cultivé, domestique

   Synonyms: des champs, des prés, des bois, (Antilles, Réunion) marron

   de l’ail sauvage ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   un chat sauvage ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   un animal sauvage ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. feral

   un enfant sauvage ― a feral child

4. primitive, uncivilized
5. coarse, unrefined
6. uncontained, anarchic; unregulated; unauthorized

   la publicité sauvage ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   une grève sauvage ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   du camping sauvage ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

7. asocial, recluse (living in an eccentric, isolated way, not interested in social contact or appealing to others)
8. (Canada, Louisiana, obsolete, offensive) Amerindian

Derived terms

• cornouiller sauvage
• mercuriale sauvage
• séné sauvage

 

Noun

sauvage m (plural sauvages, feminine sauvagesse)

1. (derogatory) barbarian, savage
2. (derogatory) hermit, recluse
3. (Canada, Louisiana, obsolete, offensive) Amerindian
4. (Louisiana) an Amerindian language

Further reading

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

Middle English

Noun

sauvage

1. Alternative form of savage

Norman

Etymology

From Old French sauvage, salvage, from Vulgar Latin salvāticus, from Latin silvāticus, from silva (“forest”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

Adjective

sauvage m or f

1. (Jersey) wild; untamed

Old French

Alternative forms

• salvage

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin salvāticus, from Latin silvāticus. Compare Old Occitan sauvatge, salvatge.

Adjective

sauvage m (oblique and nominative feminine singular sauvage)

1. wild; untamed; barbarian

Declension

Declension of sauvage

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Subject	sauvages	sauvage	sauvage
	Oblique	sauvage	sauvage	sauvage
Plural	Subject	sauvage	sauvages	sauvage
	Oblique	sauvages	sauvages	sauvage

Descendants

• French: sauvage
• Norman: sauvage (Jersey)
• → Middle English: savage, salvage, saveage, sauvage, salvage
  • English: savage
  • Scots: savage