caille

Etymology

From Middle French, from Old French quaille, from Old Dutch *kwakila, Frankish *kwakla (compare Dutch kwakkel), blend of kwak (“quack”) and *hwahtila (“quail”) (compare dialectal Dutch wachtel), diminutive of Proto-Indo-European *kʷoḱt-. See also the word quaccola, attested in the Reichenau glosses. More at quail, Wachtel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑj/

• audio

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Adjective

caille (plural cailles)

1. multicoloured, spotted.
   • 1881, "Le boute-selle" in French Nursery Rhymes, Librarie Hachette & cie, page 25:

     A Versailles, à Versailles, / Sur la queue d’un’ grand’ vach’ caille.

     To Versailles, to Versailles, / On the tail of a big spotted cow.

Noun

caille f (plural cailles)

1. quail

Verb

caille

1. first-person singular indicative present of cailler
2. third-person singular indicative present of cailler
3. first-person singular subjunctive present of cailler
4. third-person singular subjunctive present of cailler
5. second-person singular imperative of cailler

Further reading

• “caille” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin pallium.

Etymology 2

See etymology on the main entry.