chaloupe

See also: chaloupé

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French chaloppe (“a sort of flat-bottomed boat”), of uncertain origin, but probably by apheresis from Old French eschalope (“shell”), used figuratively. An alternative theory deriving the term from Dutch sloep appears unlikely, since the Dutch word is attested only much later and the phonetic development is hard to explain; it is more likely that the Dutch term was borrowed from French.