taupe

English

WOTD – 25 September 2008

Etymology

Borrowed from French taupe, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin talpa (“mole”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /təʊp/
• IPA^(key): /toʊp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

taupe (countable and uncountable, plural taupes)

1. A dark brownish-grey colour, the colour of moleskin.

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Translations

a dark brownish-gray colour

• Estonian: pruunikashall
• Finnish: ruskeanharmaa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: talpa (es), pardo (es) m

Adjective

taupe (comparative more taupe, superlative most taupe)

1. Of a dark brownish-grey colour.
   • 1915, Ben Hecht, "Life", The Little Review, November,

     At five o'clock the patch of daylight above the red-lighted exit door turned taupe, as though a gray curtain had been flung across it; […]

   • 1952, Wallace Earle Stegner, "Pop Goes the Alley Cat", Harper's Magazine, February, pp. 42-52,

     In the front room, on an old taupe overstuffed sofa, the head of the house lay in a blanket bathrobe, […]

Translations

of a dark brownish-gray colour

• Estonian: pruunikashall
• Finnish: ruskeanharmaa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: pardo (es) m

See also

• Appendix:Colors

Anagrams

• ate up, eat up

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French

Etymology

From Old French taupe, inherited from Latin talpa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /top/

• audio (CA):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

taupe f (plural taupes)

1. mole (burrowing mammal)
2. (figuratively) mole (undercover agent)
3. tunneler
4. (education) higher mathematics class

Derived terms

• taupe-grillon
• taupicide
• taupier
• taupière
• taupinière

 

Adjective

taupe (plural taupes)

1. taupe

Further reading

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

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Norman

Etymology

From Old French taupe, from Latin talpa.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey):

  (file)

Noun

taupe f (plural taupes)

1. (Jersey) mole (mammal)

Synonyms

• taupîn

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Old French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin talpa.

Noun

taupe oblique singular, f (oblique plural taupes, nominative singular taupe, nominative plural taupes)

1. mole (mammal)

Descendants

• French: taupe
• Norman: taupe (Jersey)

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Tocharian B

Noun

taupe ?

1. mine (place from which ore is extracted)