fauve

English

Noun

fauve (plural fauves)

1. Synonym of fauvist

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French fauve, from Old French falve, from Late Latin falvus, a borrowing from Frankish *falu, *falw- (compare Dutch vaal, English fallow and German falb), from Proto-Germanic *falwaz (“pale, grey”). The adjectival sense of "savage, fierce" comes from the noun sense "wild animal," which is in turn a shortening of bête au pelage fauve (“animal with tawny fur”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fov/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ov
• Homophone: fauves

Adjective

fauve (plural fauves)

1. tawny
2. (rare, archaic) savage, fierce (having the ferocity of a wild animal) [19th c.]
3. (rare, by extension) dangerous, wild [from mid-19th c.]
4. (art) fauvist [from early 20th c.]

Derived terms

• pluvier fauve

Noun

fauve m (plural fauves)

1. (dated) tawny-coloured animal [from late 16th c.]
2. (by extension) a big cat, such as a lion or lynx
   • 1943, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince‎^[1], Chapter I:

     Lorsque j’avais six ans j’ai vu, une fois, une magnifique image, dans un livre sur la forêt vierge qui s’appelait Histoires vécues. Ça représentait un serpent boa qui avalait un fauve.

     When I was six years old, I once saw a magnificent picture, in a book on the virgin forest called True Stories. It was of a boa that was swallowing a large cat.

3. (by extension) beast, wild animal, especially fierce, aggressive, or predatory. Usually implies adding big bears like the Black, Brown and Polar ones. Sometimes extends up to the wolverine, wolf, etc. More rarely, big, aggressive and/or hard to meet cervid game might go under this umbrella term as well.
4. (figuratively) a violent or aggressive man or woman
5. a brownish orange color, tawny [from mid-19th c.]
6. (polytechnic jargon, obsolete) examiner

Further reading

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

Old French

Adjective

fauve m (oblique and nominative feminine singular fauve)

1. brownish