girouette

French

Etymology

From Middle French gyrouete, from Old Northern French wirewite (“weathercock, weather vane”), borrowed from Old Norse veðrviti (“weather indicator, weather vane”), from veðr (“weather”), and viti (“indicator”). Also attributed to Norman wirewire (a variant of wirewite) at the origin of the dialectal term verguillon for girouette.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʒi.ʁwɛt/

Noun

girouette f (plural girouettes)

  1. weathercock, weather vane
    • 1857, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary […]‎[1], Paris: Michel Lévy Frères:
      Le jour commençait à paraître. Emma, de loin, reconnut la maison de son amant, dont les deux girouettes à queue-d'aronde se découpaient en noir sur le crépuscule pâle.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. (figurative) a fickle person

Descendants

  • → Romanian: giruetă

Further reading

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