vénal

See also: venal

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vēnālis (“for sale”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ve.nal/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Homophones: vénale, vénales

Adjective

vénal (feminine vénale, masculine plural vénaux, feminine plural vénales)

1. (relational) sale

   valeur vénale ― sale price

2. (of a person, derogatory) venal (available for a price)

   Near-synonyms: vendu, véreux, cupide

   • 1857, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary […]‎^[1], Paris: Michel Lévy Frères; republished as Eleanor Marx, transl., Madame Bovary, 1886:

     Parce que des lèvres libertines ou vénales lui avaient murmuré des phrases pareilles, il ne croyait que faiblement à la candeur de celles-là; […] .

     Because lips libertine and and venal had murmured such words to him, he believed but little in the candour of hers; […] .

Derived terms

• vénalité
• vénalement

Further reading

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