raccroc

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.kʁo/

  • Audio

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• IPA^(key): /ʁa.kʁɔ/ (older, now chiefly Belgium)
• Rhymes: -o, -ɔ

Noun

raccroc m (uncountable)

1. (formal) chance, fluke (random occurrence, luck)

   Synonym: hasard

   • 1957, André Martinet, “Arbirtraire linguistique et double articulation”, in Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure, 15: 105-16:

     Toutes les langues connues utilisent des signes combinables et un système phonologique. Mais il y en a, comme le français, qui, pourrait-on presque dire, n’utilisent les latitudes prosodiques que par superfétation ou par raccroc.

     All known languages use combinable signs and a phonological system. But there are some, like French, that could be said to use the full prosodic scope only superfluously or by chance.

Usage notes

• Usually occurs in the phrase par raccroc (“by chance”).

Further reading

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