siècle

See also: siecle

French

Alternative forms

• siecle (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French siecle, from Old French siecle, earlier secle (9th c.), a borrowing from Latin saeculum. The expected inherited form would be *sieil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sjɛkl/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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• Audio (France (Paris)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Massy)):

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Noun

siècle m (plural siècles)

1. century (period of 100 years)

   le xxi^e siècle ― the 21st century

   • 1903, Maurice Pillard Verneuil, Étude de la plante‎^[1], page 1:

     C'est que, rompant avec l'imitation des siècles précédents, ils retournent à l'éternelle inspiratrice, à la nature . . .

     For, breaking with the imitation of previous centuries, they return to the eternal inspirer—to nature . . .

   • 1992, Amélie Nothomb, Hygiène de l’assassin [The Assassin’s Hygiene] (fiction):

     Cessez de blasphémer, vile créature ! Apprenez, ignorante, que saint Prétextat était archevêque de Rouen au VI^e siècle, et grand ami de Grégoire de Tours, qui était un homme très bien, dont vous n’avez naturellement jamais entendu parler.

     Stop blaspheming, you vile creature! You’d better learn, ignorant woman, that Saint Praetextatus was Archbishop of Rouen in the 6^th century, and a friend of Gregory of Tours, who was a very good man, which you, unsurprisingly, never heard of.

Usage notes

French typographic convention traditionally writes century numbers as Roman numerals in small capitals followed by a superscript ⟨^e⟩:

le xix^e siècle ― the 19th century

When small capitals are unavailable, ordinary capital Roman numerals are an accepted substitute:

le XIX^e siècle ― the 19th century

Derived terms

• du siècle
• mal du siècle
• siècle des Lumières

Related terms

• séculaire
• séculairement
• sécularisation
• séculariser
• sécularisme
• sécularité
• séculier

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: syèk
• Swedish: sekel

References

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

Further reading

• “siècle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
• “siècle”, in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse
• “siècle” in Dico en ligne Le Robert.

Anagrams

• ciselé, cisèle