États-Unis
See also: Etats-Unis
FrenchEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- Etats-Unis (see usage notes)
EtymologyEdit
états (“states”) + unis (“united”), calque of English United States
PronunciationEdit
Proper nounEdit
(les) États-Unis m pl (plural only)
- United States (a country in North America)
- Les États-Unis sont un grand pays.
- The United States is a big country.
Usage notesEdit
- Unlike the English equivalent, États-Unis is always used as a plural noun.
- In older French practice, capital letters did not take diacritics, so É becomes E. This was mostly done because of technical constraints. Formal orthotypography maintains the diacritics.