English French
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
A kind of perversity seems to pervade many of the words which we have borrowed from the French. Thus, our citrate is the Fr. vicaire, and our vicar the Fr. cure.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “English French” mean?
A kind of perversity seems to pervade many of the words which we have borrowed from the French. Thus, our citrate is the Fr. vicaire, and our vicar the Fr. cure.
Is “English French” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.