poignard

English

Noun

poignard (plural poignards)

1. Alternative form of poniard
   • 1978, Michael Moorcock, Gloriana; or, The Unfulfill'd Queen, page 1:

     Within, the palace is rarely still; there is a coming and going of great aristocrats in their brocades, silks and velvets, their chains of gold and silver, their filigree poignards, their ivory farthingales, cloaks and trains rippling behind them, sometimes carried by little boys and girls in such a weight of cloth it seems they can barely walk.

French

Etymology

From an alteration of Old French poignal, poignel, from Vulgar Latin *pugnāle(m), from Latin pugnus (“fist”) (whence French poing), in the manner of manuālis. Compare Spanish puñal; Portuguese and Occitan punhal; Catalan punyal; Italian pugnale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pwa.ɲaʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʁ

Noun

poignard m (plural poignards)

1. dagger

Related terms

• poignarder

Descendants

• → English: poniard

Further reading

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