thème

See also: theme

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin thema, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛm/

• Audio

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Noun

thème m (plural thèmes)

1. theme, topic

   Synonym: sujet

   un parc à thèmes ― a theme park

2. (music) subject, theme
3. (linguistics) theme (what is generally being talked about, as opposed to rheme)

   Coordinate term: rhème

4. (grammar) stem of (usually) a noun or verb, to which inflectional endings are attached

   Coordinate term: désinence

   Near-synonym: radical

   Dans la forme verbale jouons, jou- est le thème, et -ons la désinence.

   In the verb jouons, jou- is the stem and the ending is -ons.

5. (chiefly in classical studies) translation from one's mother tongue into another language

   Coordinate term: version

   le thème latin ― translation into Latin

   le thème grec ― translation into Greek

   fort en thème ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

6. (astrology) chart

   thème astral ― astrological chart

   thème céleste ― astrological chart

Related terms

• thématique
• thèse

Further reading

• “thème” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
• “thème” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
• “thème”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.