gourde

English

Etymology

From French, originally meaning “heavy, clumsy”. Cognate with Haitian Creole goud.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɡʊəd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɡʊɹd/
• enPR: go͝ord
• Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)d

Noun

gourde (plural gourdes)

1. The currency of Haiti, divided into 100 centimes.
   • 1983 December 24, Andrea Loewenstein, “"What's Freedom Without Food In Your Stomach?" — A Trip to Haiti”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 23, page 8:

     Small boys eager to help in return for a gourd or two.

Anagrams

• drogue, drouge, rogued, rouged

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡuʁd/

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French coorde, cohourde, with later voicing of initial c-, from Latin cucurbita. Doublet of courge (from the form cohourge). Compare English gourd.

Noun

gourde f (plural gourdes)

1. gourd
2. (by extension) water bottle; flask; canteen (water bottle used by soldiers, camper etc.)

Etymology 2

Influenced by the adjective gourd (“clumsy”).

Noun

gourde f (plural gourdes)

1. (colloquial) clot, dope; idiot
2. gourde (currency of Haiti)

Adjective

gourde

1. feminine singular of gourd

Further reading

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

Middle English

Alternative forms

• gorde, goord, gowrde, gurd

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman gourde, gurde, from Latin cucurbita.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡuːrd(ə)/

Noun

gourde (plural gourdes)

1. A plant of the family Cucurbitaceae; a gourd or similar plant.
2. The fruit of such a plant.

Descendants

• English: gourd

References

• “gǒurd(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norman

Adjective

gourde

1. feminine singular of gourd (“numb”)