alouette

Inherited from Old French aloëte, diminutive aloe +‎ -ette, from Latin alauda, from Gaulish *alauda (“skylark”).

• IPA^(key): /a.lwɛt/

• audio

  (file)

alouette f (plural alouettes)

1. lark (bird)
   • 1896 September 27, Octave Mirbeau, “Le tripot aux champs”, in Le Journal:

     C’est l’heure charmante où l’alouette s’élève dans le ciel, salue de ses trilles et de ses roulades le matin jeune, virginal et triomphant.

     It is the charming hour when the lark rises into the sky and salutes with its trilling and swirling song the young, virginal, and triumphant morning.

• alouette des champs
• miroir aux alouettes

From Etymology 1, alluding to the French-Canadian folk song Alouette, a cumulative song with a lengthening list of body parts.

alouette

1. (usually humorous) Used at the end of a long list of items; and a partridge in a pear tree
   • 2020, Philippe Mercure, “COVID-19 : quand la maladie s'éternise”, in La Presse:

     Neurologue, pneumologue, plusieurs cardiologues, oto-rhino-laryngologiste, rhumatologue, spécialiste des maladies infectieuses, alouette : son quotidien est rythmé par les examens avec les nombreux spécialistes qui la suivent.

     Neurologist, pneumonologist, several cardiologists, ENT, rheumatologist, infectious disease specialist, and a partridge in a pear tree: the rhythm of her daily life is set by her appointments with the numerous specialists who are following her.

• “alouette”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• alouaette (Guernsey)

From Old French aloëte, diminutive of aloe, from Latin alauda, from Gaulish [Term?].

alouette f (plural alouettes)

1. (Jersey) skylark