souple

English

Etymology 1

From a UK dialect form of supple.

Adjective

souple (not comparable)

1. Of raw silk: deprived of its silk-glue.

Etymology 2

Noun

souple (plural souples)

1. The part of a flail that strikes the grain.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “souple”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• Loupes, Peluso, Puleos, loupes, poules

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French

Etymology

From Latin supplex.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /supl/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

souple (plural souples)

1. supple
2. yielding

Related terms

• assouplir
• souplesse

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• loupes, poules

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Middle English

Etymology

Old French souple and Anglo-Norman souple, from Latin supplex

Adjective

souple

1. flexible; supple
   • 14^th Century, Chaucer, General Prologue

     His bootes souple, his hors in greet estaat.

     His boots flexible, his horse in a fine condition

Descendants

• → English: supple

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Old French

Noun

souple m (oblique and nominative feminine singular souple)

1. supple (which bends readily)
   • circa 1170, La vie de St. Emonde

     keue souple

     Supple tail