English
tranche
Tranche comes from French tranche ‘slice’, and goes back to Old French trenchier ‘cut, make a cut’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400trenchier1‘cut, make a cut’
- Frenchc. 1600–presenttrancher1‘to cut, to slice’
- Frenchc. 1600–presenttranche1‘slice’form of trancher
- Englishearliest quotation 1893tranche1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English tranche
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1893, P. Fitzgerald, Stonyhurst Memories: “Servants, carrying huge baskets suspended before them in which…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400trenchierWiktionary, English tranche‘cut, make a cut’
- Frenchc. 1600–presenttrancherWiktionary, English tranche‘to cut, to slice’
- Frenchc. 1600–presenttrancheWiktionary, English tranche‘slice’form of trancher
- Englishearliest quotation 1893trancheWiktionary, English tranche. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1893, P. Fitzgerald, Stonyhurst Memories: “Servants, carrying huge baskets suspended before them in which…”
The story
Unadapted borrowing from French tranche, form of trancher (‘to cut, to slice’), from Old French trenchier (‘cut, make a cut’), possibly from Vulgar Latin *trinicāre (‘cut in three parts’).
Linked words
through Vulgar Latin *trinicāre ‘cut in three parts’
through Old French trenchier ‘cut, make a cut’
Today it means
noun A slice, section or portion.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “tranche”. 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 / Old French trenchier / tranche