poncif

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French poncif (“cliché, stereotype”), from French poncif (“stencil”), from poncer (“to copy with pouncing paper”) +‎ -if, from ponce (“pumice”) +‎ -er, from Late Latin pōmex (“pumice”), from Latin pūmex (“pumice”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)poH(y)- (“foam”).

Noun

poncif (plural poncifs)

1. (literary, rare) An unoriginal or uninspired idea; a cliché.
   • 1999 July 29, J. A. Hiddleston, “Language and Rhetoric”, in Baudelaire and the Art of Memory, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 274:

     This hope is based on an optimistic view that human beings are capable of understanding their culture, naïvely, if their minds have not been corrupted by the poncifs of fashion, the superficiality of the juste-milieu, or the kind of art which falsifies the conditions of life.

Related terms

• foamy
• pounce
• pumice

 

References

• “poncif, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

French

Etymology

From poncer +‎ -if.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ̃.sif/

• Audio:

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Noun

poncif m (plural poncifs)

1. (literary) banality, derivative, stereotype

Further reading

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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French poncif.

Noun

poncif n (plural poncifuri)

1. banality

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	poncif	ponciful		poncifuri	poncifurile
genitive-dative	poncif	poncifului		poncifuri	poncifurilor
vocative	poncifule			poncifurilor