aiguille

See also: aiguillé

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French aiguille (“needle”).

Pronunciation

Noun

aiguille (plural aiguilles)

  1. A needle-shaped peak. [from 19th c.]
    • 1818, [Mary Shelley], Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, →OCLC:
      Mont Blanc, the supreme and magnificent Mont Blanc, raised itself from the surrounding aiguilles, and its tremendous dome overlooked the valley.
  2. An instrument for boring holes, used in blasting.

References
  1. “aiguille”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. “aiguille”, in Collins English Dictionary.
  3. “aiguille”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  4. “aiguille”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

French

Alternative forms
  • aguille (obsolete)
  • aigüille, aiguïlle (nonstandard)

Etymology

From Old French aguille, from Late Latin acūcula, diminutive of Latin acus (“needle”). Perhaps influenced phonetically by aiguiser. Compare Occitan agulha.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ɛ.ɡɥij/, /e.ɡɥij/
  • audio(file)
  • Audio (Paris)(file)

Noun

aiguille f (plural aiguilles)

  1. (botany, costumery, medicine) needle
  2. needle (of compass); hand (of watch); spire (of church)
  3. (railway) point (UK), switch (US)

Derived terms

See also

Verb

aiguille

  1. inflection of aiguiller:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.