cheval

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French cheval. See cavalcade. Doublet of caple.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɛˈvɑl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑl

Noun

cheval (plural chevaux)

1. (obsolete) Only in compounds : a horse; hence, a support or frame.
2. A long mirror.
   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 192:

     "Very well, indeed, exceeding well, for un peu passée, the mother of five young women. 'Tis as well they are not here, perhaps," said Lady Anne, as she examined herself from side to side, in the longest cheval the hotel afforded.

Derived terms

• cheval glass

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “cheval”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• chavel

Franco-Provençal

Etymology

From Late Latin caballus (“horse”), from Latin caballus (“pack horse”), of disputed origin.

Noun

cheval m (plural chevaus, feminine égva)

1. horse

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French cheval, from Old French cheval, from Late Latin caballus (“horse”), from Latin caballus (“pack horse”), of disputed origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃə.val/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

cheval m (plural chevaux, feminine jument)

1. horse
2. horsepower
3. (slang) tall and slim woman, beautiful woman (only in the feminine form, jument)
4. (slang) horse, H (narcotic)

Hypernyms

• équidé

Derived terms

• à cheval
• à cheval donné on ne regarde pas la bride
• à cheval donné on ne regarde pas les dents
• antilope cheval
• changer de cheval au milieu du gué
• cheval à bascule
• cheval de bât
• cheval de bataille
• cheval de course
• cheval de frise
• cheval de main
• cheval de Przewalski
• cheval de trait
• cheval de Troie
• cheval du diable
• cheval d’arçons
• cheval qui boit dans son blanc
• cheval-jupon
• cheval-vapeur
• chevalet
• de cheval
• dose de cheval
• fer à cheval
• fièvre de cheval
• il n’est si bon cheval qui ne bronche
• miser sur le mauvais cheval
• monter sur ses grands chevaux
• ne pas se trouver sous le sabot d’un cheval
• ne pas se trouver sous les sabots d’un cheval
• queue-de-cheval
• remède de cheval
• saut de cheval

 

Related terms

• cavalier
• cavalerie
• chevaleresque
• chevalin
• chevalier
• chevaucher

Descendants

• Antillean Creole: chouval
• Canadian French: joual
• Guianese Creole: chouval
• Haitian Creole: chwal
• Michif: zhwal
• → English: cheval
• → Esperanto: ĉevalo
• → Garifuna: xuval
• → Malagasy: soavaly
• → Mi'kmaq: te'sipow

See also

• équin
• équitation

Further reading

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

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French cheval.

Noun

cheval m (plural chevaux or chevaulx)

1. horse

Related terms

• chevalier

Descendants

• French: cheval
  • Antillean Creole: chouval
  • Canadian French: joual
  • Guianese Creole: chouval
  • Haitian Creole: chwal
  • Michif: zhwal
  • → English: cheval
  • → Esperanto: ĉevalo
  • → Garifuna: xuval
  • → Malagasy: soavaly
  • → Mi'kmaq: te'sipow

Old French

Alternative forms

• keval (northern)
• chival

Etymology

Inherited from Latin caballus.

Pronunciation

• (classical) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃəˈval/, /t͡ʃi-/, (northern) /kə-/

Noun

cheval oblique singular, m (oblique plural chevaus or chevax or chevals, nominative singular chevaus or chevax or chevals, nominative plural cheval)

1. horse
   • circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:
   • EREC de son cheval desçant[.]

     -Erec got down from his horse.

   • c. 1170, Wace, Le Roman de Rou:

     Maint bon cheval i unt tué

     They killed many good horses

Related terms

• chevalier

Descendants

• Bourguignon: chevau, ch'vau, g'vau, z'vau
• Champenois: cheveau, tchevau
• Middle French: cheval (see there for further descendants)
• Lorrain: tchevâ
• Norman: queval
• Picard: cval, cvau
• Walloon: tchivå, tchvå
• → Gascon: chivau

References

• cheval on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub