rouelle

English

Etymology

From French rouelle.

Noun

rouelle (plural rouelles)

1. (historical) A wheel-like amulet of the ancient Gauls, intended to symbolize the sun.
2. (cooking) steak (especially of veal, cut across the leg)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French roïele, roel, rodele, from Late Latin rotella, diminutive of Latin rota (“wheel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁwɛl/

• Audio:

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Noun

rouelle f (plural rouelles)

1. thin, round object or slice
2. steak (especially of veal, cut across the leg)
3. a yellow, ring-shaped badge which Jews were forced to wear in the Middle Ages
   • 1970, Maurice Druon, “« Je cite au tribunal de Dieu » ["I call to the tribunal of God"]” (chapter 8), in Le Roi de fer [The Iron King] (Les Rois maudits; volume 1), page 101:

     Quelques Juifs, serrés en groupes timides, la rouelle jaune sur leur manteau, étaient venus regarder ce supplice dont, pour une fois, ils ne faisaient pas les frais.

     Some Jews, huddled in timid little groups, the yellow rouelle on their coats, had come to watch this act of torment which, for once, was not being inflicted on them.

Related terms

• roue
• rouer

Further reading

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