parpaing

French

Etymology

Probably from Vulgar Latin *perpetaneus, from Latin perpes (“uninterrupted”), or from a root *perpedaneum, from pes (“foot”) (cf. pedaneus).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paʁ.pɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

parpaing m (plural parpaings)

1. perpend stone, through stone
2. (metonymically) breeze-block (building block)
   • 2007 February 19, Les Fatals Picards (lyrics and music), “Mon père était tellement de gauche”‎^[1]:

     Mon père était tellement de gauche que quand est tombé le mur de Berlin
     Il est parti chez Casto pour acheter des parpaings

     My father was so left-wing, that when the Berlin Wall fell
     He went to Castorama to buy some perpends

Adjective

parpaing (feminine parpaigne, masculine plural parpaings, feminine plural parpaignes)

1. through (stone, ashlar)

Further reading

• parpaing on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr
• “parpaing”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.