sbire
French
editEtymology
editBorrowed into Middle French from Italian sbirro, from birro, from Latin birrus (“hooded coat”), related to burrus (“reddish; red-headed”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editsbire m (plural sbires)
- (historical) an Italian police officer of the Middle Ages
- (derogatory) henchman
- 2015 January, Virginie Despentes, Vernon Subutex, volume 1, Éditions Grasset, →ISBN:
- La rousse porte une longue parka kaki, trop petite pour elle, et d’énormes baskets flambant neuves, vert et jaune fluo. Mais Vernon n’a pas envie de critiquer son look. Pas plus que de faire la conversation aux quatre sbires au milieu desquels elle tonitrue.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Further reading
edit- “sbire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
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- French terms derived from Latin
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