couche

See also: couché

French

Etymology

Deverbal from coucher.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuʃ/

• Audio:

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Noun

couche f (plural couches)

1. (literary) bed (place for sleeping)

   partager sa couche avec quelqu’un ― to share one's bed with someone

2. nappy/diaper

   Synonym: (Louisiana) drapeau

3. coat (of paint)
4. layer (of soil, snow etc.)
5. (chiefly in the plural) childbirth
   • 1798, Rétif de La Bretonne, chapter 38, in L’Anti-Justine:

     Nous devînmes grosses toutes trois à la fois ; il nous déclara qu’il ne nous le mettrait plus qu’après nos couches et l’allaitement.

     All three of us grew big at the same time; he told us that he would no longer stick it in us until after we had given birth and finished breast-feeding.

6. (chemistry) shell

Derived terms

• couche d’ozone
• en rajouter un couche
• en remettre une couche
• fausse couche
• sous-couche

Verb

couche

1. inflection of coucher:
   1. first/third-person singular imperfect indicative
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   3. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French couche, from couchier (whence couchen).

Alternative forms

• cowche, cowch, cuche, chouche

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuːtʃ(ə)/, /ˈtʃuːtʃ(ə)/

Noun

couche (plural couches)

1. A bed (flat piece of furniture for sleeping on).
   1. A movable or portable bed.
   2. A bed or sleeping spot prepared for an animal.
2. (rare) A bedroom; the room where one sleeps in.
3. (rare) A room or abode where an animal sleeps; a den.
4. (rare) A stand or platform.
5. (rare) A table covered by a piece of fabric.
6. (rare) A bump or lump.

Derived terms

• couchant
• couchen
• coucher
• couchynge

Descendants

• English: couch
• Scots: cooch, cootch
• → Welsh: cwtsh
  • → English: cwtch

References

• “cǒuche, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-19.

Etymology 2

Verb

couche

1. Alternative form of couchen

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

couche f (plural couches)

1. (Jersey) couch