mèche

Etymology

From Old French mesche, via Late Latin *micca or Vulgar Latin *mysca, alteration of Latin myxa (“sebesten tree”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛʃ/

• Audio (une mèche)

  (file)

Noun

mèche f (plural mèches)

1. wick (of candle)
2. fuse (of a bomb)
3. lock, tuft (of hair); streak (of colour etc in hair)
   • 1829, Victor Hugo, Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné, XLVIII:

     Mes cheveux, coupés au hasard, tombaient par mèches sur mes épaules, et l'homme en chapeua à trois cornes les époussetait doucement avec sa grosse main.

     My hair, cut at random, fell in clumps on to my shoulders, and the man in the tricorn hat brushed them away softly with his fat hand.

4. (medicine) packing
5. (drill) bit
6. (music, lutherie, bowmaking) hair

Further reading

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

Etymology

French

Noun

mèche f (invariable)

1. streak (in the hair)