Etymograph

English

paillard

Paillard comes from French paillard ‘bawdy, lewd’, from paille ‘straw (dried grass)’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘flour, dust’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-1‘flour, dust’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalea1‘chaff’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400paille1
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentpaille2‘straw (dried grass)’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentpaillard3‘bawdy, lewd’
  6. Englishtodaypaillard3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, French paille
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French paillard
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English paillard

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-Wiktionary, French paille‘flour, dust’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaleaWiktionary, French paille‘chaff’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pailleWiktionary, French paille
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentpailleWiktionary, French paillard‘straw (dried grass)’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentpaillardWiktionary, English paillard‘bawdy, lewd’
  6. EnglishtodaypaillardWiktionary, English paillard

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘flour, dust’

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

through Old French paille

pallet, 2 more

Another origin of paillard

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600palliard
  2. Englishtodaypaillard

Today it means

noun A slice of meat pounded thin and grilled.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “paillard”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for French paille, French paillard. 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- / paillard

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