cane

Inherited from Middle French cane (“duck, female duck”, literally “loater, little boat”), from Old French cane (“boat, ship; waterbird”), from Middle Low German kane (“boat”), from Proto-Germanic *kaną (“boat, vessel”). See Proto-Germanic *kanô (“boat, vessel”). Cognate with Norwegian kane (“swan-shaped vessel”), Dutch kaan (“boat”), German Kahn (“boat”), Old Norse kæna (“little boat”), and possibly Old Norse knǫrr (“ship”) (whence also Late Latin canardus (“ship”), from Germanic; and Old English cnearr (“merchant ship”)). Related to French canot (“little boat”).


vache

Haitian Creole: vach

Inherited from Middle French and Old French vache, from Latin vacca.

chacun son métier, les vaches seront bien gardées

parler français comme une vache espagnole


vache

C’est vache!


brebis

Inherited from Old French berbis, berbiz, from Vulgar Latin *berbicem, from Late Latin berbēcem, from Latin vervēx (“wether”).


chatte

Inherited from Middle French chatte, from Old French chate, from Late Latin catta, feminine of cattus. By surface analysis, chat + -e.

Puis-je te bouffer la chatte ?


poule

→ Dutch: poelepetaat (from poule pintade)

→ English: poule

Inherited from Old French, from Vulgar Latin pulla, feminine form of Latin pullus.

Ma poule vient de pondre un œuf.


velle

Inherited from Old French veelle, from Late Latin vitella, diminutive of Latin vitula.


chèvre

fr-noun

chèvre f (plural chèvres, masculine bouc)

English: chevon

Inherited from Middle French chevre, from Old French chievre, from Latin capra, from caper, from Proto-Indo-European *kápros.


jument

→ Catalan: jument

→ Franco-Provençal: jument

From Old French jument, from Latin iūmentum.


génisse

génisse f (plural génisses, masculine bouvillon)

Inherited from Old French genice, from Vulgar Latin *jēnicia, alteration of *iūnicia, from Latin iūnix (“young cow, calf, heifer”).


biche

Inherited from Middle French biche, from Old French biche (“doe, female deer”) and bisse (“wild animal”), of uncertain origin and relation. The form bisse is almost certainly from Vulgar Latin bīstia, variant of Latin bēstia (compare bête); however, the contemporary biche is an enigma, and possibly unrelated. It may be the Picard or Norman form of bisse, (compare chent for cent) or may share origin with Middle French bique (“nanny-goat”), believed to be derived from Proto-Germanic *bik (“goat”) or perhaps related to Icelandic bikkja (“old mare, nag”). More at bouc.

darling, sweetheart (affectionate name for one's girlfriend)


canette

→ Catalan: canet

→ English: canette

Inherited from Middle French kanete (“vase, pitcher for serving beer”), a diminutive (with suffix -ette) of Medieval Latin cana, canna (“can, jug, vessel”), from Frankish *kanna (“jug, pitcher, can”), from Proto-Germanic *kannǭ (“tankard, mug, can”), from Proto-Indo-European *gandʰ-, *gan- (“a vessel, tub”). Cognate with Old High German channa (“can”), Old English canne (“can”). More at can.


canette

Inherited from Middle French canette. By surface analysis, cane + -ette.


chamelle

fr-noun

chamelle f (plural chamelles, masculine chameau)


truie

Inherited from Late Latin troia. Cognate with Italian troia, Occitan truèja, Catalan truja, Walloon troye. Further origin uncertain. It has been compared to Latin porcus Troiānus (literally “Trojan pig”), a singularly attested name for a stuffed roast of pork, so called by humorous comparison to the “filled” Trojan horse. More likely from a Gaulish *trogja, from a root meaning “to pull” and thence also “fertile”. Finally it might be an imitative formation after the sound of a pig's grunt.


reine des animaux

fr-noun

reine des animaux f (plural reines des animaux, masculine roi des animaux)

reines des animaux (plural)
roi des animaux (masculine)


éléphantelle

éléphantelle f (plural éléphantelles, masculine éléphanteau)

éléphantelles (plural)
éléphanteau (masculine)


merlette

From merle + -ette, literally “little blackbird”, the word for the male blackbird being mostly female until the 16th century (a male: "une merle", a little male: "une merlette").
Meaning 2 (hen blackbird) appears in 1839.


hase

From German Hase, from Middle High German hase, from Old High German haso, from Proto-Germanic *hasô (“hare”). More at hare.


singesse

fr-noun

singesse f (plural singesses, masculine singe)


merlesse

merlesse f (plural merlesses, masculine merle)

Un jour que Catherine avait plus songé à chercher des nids dans les buissons qu’à garder ses bêtes, elle trouva vers le soir un nid de merles avec trois gros petits déjà bien emplumés. Ils ne paraissaient guère farouches, car, lorsqu’elle leur montrait le bout de son doigt en imitant le cri de la merlesse, ils ouvraient leurs becs jaunes et montraient leurs larges gosiers tout roses.

1874, George Sand, Contes d’une grand’mère, Michel Lévy frères, page 159:

One day, when Catherine had thought more of looking for nests in the bushes than of keeping her animals, towards evening she found a blackbird’s nest with three large cubs already well feathered. They hardly seemed fierce, for when she showed them the tip of her finger, imitating the cry of the blackbird, they opened their yellow beaks and showed their large pink throats.


poule faisane

poule faisane f (plural poules faisanes, masculine faisan)

poules faisanes (plural)
faisan (masculine)