veille

See also: veillé

French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin vigilia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛj/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

veille f (plural veilles)

1. the day before, the eve

   Antonym: lendemain

   la veille de Noël ― Christmas Eve

   la veille du jour de l’an ― New Year's Eve

2. (by extension) the era or while before something; eve

   Jusqu’à la veille de la Première Guerre mondiale, la cause de l’immigration italienne en France était essentiellement économique. ― Until the eve of World War I, the cause of Italian immigration to France was essentially economic.

3. wakefulness

   Antonym: sommeil

4. (night) watch, vigil
5. (computing) standby

Synonyms

• (Eve): le réveillon

Coordinate terms

Dates relative to today in French (layout · text)
	–3	–2	–1	0	+1	+2	+3
direct speech	three days ago	two days ago	yesterday	today	tomorrow	in two days	in three days
	avant-avant-hier	avant-hier	hier	aujourd’hui	demain	après-demain	après-après-demain
reported speech	three days before, three days earlier	two days before, two days earlier	the day before	on that day	the next day	two days later	three days later
	trois jours plus tôt	l’avant-veille	la veille	ce jour-là	le lendemain	le surlendemain	trois jours plus tard

Derived terms

• avant-veille
• à veille de
• ce n’est pas demain la veille
• écran de veille
• lendemain de veille

Related terms

• veiller (verb)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• vielle, viellé

Old French

Alternative forms

• vedille (archaic)
• ville, verille (late)
• velle (hapax; unusual)

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *vĭtīcula, from Late Latin vītīcula, from Classical Latin vītĭcula.

The reason for the development of a variant verille is unclear.

Pronunciation

• (archaic) IPA^(key): /vəˈðiʎə/
• (classical) IPA^(key): /vəˈiʎə/
• (late) IPA^(key): /ˈviʎə/, /vəˈɾiʎə/

Noun

veille oblique singular, f (oblique plural veilles, nominative singular veille, nominative plural veilles)

1. tendril

Descendants

• French: vrille

References

• “veïlle f.”, in DEAF: Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1968-.