patelin
French edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
patelin m (plural patelins)
- (colloquial) backwater, one-horse town
- 2014, Édouard Louis, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule [The End of Eddy], Le Seuil:
- Ils commencent l’usine après le collège pis ils restent dans le village toute leur vie ou alors ils s’installent dans un patelin mais pas trop loin.
- They start working in the factory after secondary school, then they stay in the village their whole life, or else they move to some backwater, but not too far away.
- 2016, Gaël Faye, Petit Pays [Small Country]:
- Papa […] venait d’un patelin dans les montagnes qui ressemblait à s’y méprendre´aux paysages du Burundi
- Dad […] came from a small village in the mountains, which might easily be mistaken for the landscape of Burundi
Adjective edit
patelin (feminine pateline, masculine plural patelins, feminine plural patelines)
Further reading edit
- “patelin”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.