Etymograph

English

fauteuil

Fauteuil comes from French fauteuil ‘armchair’, from Old French faudestuel ‘a type of portable chair designed for a noble…’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-1root named by Wiktionary
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*faldistōl2‘folding seat’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400faudestuel2‘a type of portable chair designed for a noble person’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600faulxdestueil2
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentfauteuil1‘armchair’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1834fauteuil1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English fauteuil
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French fauteuil
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1834, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Richard Bentley: “Gaston of Orleans was seated in a fauteuil, wrapped…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-Wiktionary, English fauteuilroot named by Wiktionary
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*faldistōlWiktionary, French fauteuil‘folding seat’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400faudestuelWiktionary, French fauteuil‘a type of portable chair designed for a noble person’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600faulxdestueilWiktionary, French fauteuil
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentfauteuilWiktionary, English fauteuil‘armchair’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1834fauteuilWiktionary, English fauteuil. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1834, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Richard Bentley: “Gaston of Orleans was seated in a fauteuil, wrapped…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pel-

felt, simple, simply, film, push, powder, complain, fold, pulse, filter, repeal, pillow, flaw, pollen, compulsive, expel, repel, palpable, palladium, propel, palate, palatable, pall, pelt, wallow, peloton, polemic, tuple, palatal, muffle, pollinate, apoplexy, peplum, pulver, palp, pillion, interpolate, 62 more

Today it means

noun An armchair.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fauteuil”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for French fauteuil. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pel- / fauteuil

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