oiseau

Etymology

From Old French oisel, from Late Latin aucellus, contraction of Vulgar Latin *avicellus, diminutive of Latin avis, from Proto-Italic *awis, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwis. Compare Italian uccello, Occitan aucèl, Catalan ocell, Walloon oujhea, Gallo ouézai, Jersey Norman ouaîsé, Franco-Provençal usél, Friulian uciel, Sicilian aceddu, Neapolitan auciello.

Compare also with oie (“goose”), itself derived from avis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wa.zo/

• audio

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• Audio (FR)

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• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): [zwɒzo], [zozo]

Noun

oiseau m (plural oiseaux)

1. bird

Further reading

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