écrou

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.kʁu/

• Audio:

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Etymology 1

Masculinized form from Middle French escroue, from Old French escroe, from Latin scrōfa, originally “sow (female pig)”; compare Occitan escrofa (“screw nut”), Sicilian scrufina (“screw nut”). The change in meaning is also found in Spanish puerca, Portuguese porca, both “sow; screw nut”, and is based on the fact that a boar's penis has a screw-like tip, making the sow's vulva equivalent to a screw nut by analogy.

Noun

écrou m (plural écrous)

1. nut (that fits on a bolt), female screw

Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle French escrou (“scrap, strip of parchment, scroll”), from Old French escroe, from Old Dutch *skrōda (“end, flap”) (compare Middle Dutch scrōde), from Proto-Germanic *skrudaz, derivative of Proto-Germanic *skrudaną (compare Dutch schrooien (“to shred”)). Cognate with English escrow, scroll.

Noun

écrou m (plural écrous)

1. a prison register, prison admission form

Derived terms

• écrouer
• levée d’écrou

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• coeur, cœur
• coure