gouffre

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French gofre, with metathesis from Vulgar Latin or Late Latin colfus, culfus, variants of colpus, from Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡufʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ufʁ

Noun

gouffre m (plural gouffres)

1. pit or shaft cave, pothole

   Synonym: aven

2. chasm

   Synonym: abîme

3. money pit, drain on finances

Derived terms

• au bord du gouffre

References

• gouffre on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr

Further reading

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