fichu

Etymology

Borrowed from French fichu.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪʃuː/, /ˈfiːʃuː/

Noun

fichu (plural fichus)

1. A woman's lightweight triangular scarf worn over the shoulders and tied in front
   • 1789, The Ladies Magazine, January 1789, "Fashionable Dresses: The First Lady's Dress", page 55

     On the neck—an ample Fichu, very prominent, the point of which behind goes under the jacket and the ends before go under the stomacher

   • 1868 London Society, vol. XIII, "Fashion at Longchamps", page 407

     The fichu proper, introduced by Marie Antoinette, not before the décolletée style of toilette made it positively necessary, was nothing more than a lace kerchief worn crossed over the shoulders.

   • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 93

     She wore a dress of filmy white stuff, embroidered with bunches of pale mauve thistles, a full fichu, and a large mauve hat with wide mauve ribbons, tied in front in a large knot where the fichu was crossed on her bosom.

   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 285:

     Assistant Van admired her elegant slenderness, the gray tailor-made suit, the smoky fichu and as it wafted away, her long white neck.

Etymology

Past participle of ficher (various senses).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi.ʃy/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

fichu m (plural fichus)

1. (historical) fichu
2. scarf, headscarf

Adjective

fichu (feminine singular fichue, masculine plural fichus, feminine plural fichues)

1. (colloquial) lousy, rotten, hell of a
2. (colloquial) done for
3. (colloquial) put together, rigged out, got up

Related terms

• fichtre

Further reading

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

Adjective

fichu m

1. (Guernsey) blessed, wretched

Adverb

fichu

1. (Guernsey) really