portance

English

Etymology

From Middle French portance (“a carrying, support”), from porter (“to carry”), from Latin portare (“carry, bear, convey”).

Noun

portance (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) The manner in which one carries oneself; behaviour.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     […] for in court gay portaunce he perceiu'd, / And gallant shew to be in greatest gree […]

Synonyms

• port (also a dated/archaic sense)

Anagrams

• Caperton, co-parent, coparent, rent-a-cop

French

Etymology

From porter +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

portance f (plural portances)

1. lift (upward force, such as that which keeps an aircraft aloft)
2. bearing pressure

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• coparent