bouclier

French

Face interne du bouclier.

Etymology

Ellipsis of Old French escut boucler (“shield with a buckle”), with change of suffix. Morphologically, from boucle +‎ -ier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bu.kli.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

bouclier m (plural boucliers)

1. shield (broad piece of defensive armor, held in hand, formerly in general use in war, for the protection of the body)

   levée de boucliers ― outcry, protest (literally, “raising of shields”)

   • 1820 [1819], Alexandre Dumas, transl., Ivanhoé, translation of Ivanhoe by Walter Scott:

     Le même portait, en outre, le petit bouclier triangulaire, assez large à son sommet pour protéger la poitrine, et, à partir de là, s’amincissant en pointe.

     [original: He also carried his small triangular shield, broad enough at the top to protect the breast, and from thence diminishing to a point.]

2. (by extension) shield (anything which protects or defends)

Related terms

• boucler

See also

• pavois

Further reading

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