rain

From Middle French rain, from Old Dutch *rein, *rēn, from Proto-West Germanic *rain (“raised land, baulk, ridge”), from Proto-Germanic *rainaz, *rainō (“baulk, ridge”). Cognate with Dutch reen, rein, German Rain, English rean.

der

(geography) a raised border on a field or forest that serves as a boundary


rang

→ Catalan: rang

→ German: Rang

→ Romanian: rang

→ Italian: rango

→ Piedmontese: rangh

→ Haitian Creole: ran

→ Russian: ранг (rang)

→ Sicilian: rangu, rannu

→ Spanish: rango

Inherited from Middle French ranc, from Old French renc, reng, ranc, rang, from Frankish *hring, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“ring, circle”). Cognate with Dutch ring, German Ring, English ring.

(Canada, geography) a series of land plots narrower than deep, running perpendicular to a river or road

(Canada, geography) the road serving such a series of plots


aber

(geography) a ria, especially one in Brittany


pays

→ Catalan: país

→ Galician: país

→ Portuguese: país (see there for further descendants)

→ Spanish: país

Inherited from Middle French pays, from Old French pais, from Late Latin pāgēnsis (“inhabitant of a district”), derived from Latin pāgus (“countryside; district”).
See related terms. Cognates include Italian paese. Borrowed into Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish as país. Cognates in regional languages in France: Norman payis, Gallo peïs, Picard poaiyis, Bourguignon paiyis, Franco-Provençal payis, Occitan país, Corsican paese.

inh

prolétaires de tous les pays, unissez-vous


canton

→ German: Kanton

Inherited from Middle French canton, from Old French canton (from the 1240s), from Old Occitan canton (“corner; canton”) (recorded before 1218), adopted in Occitan from North Italian (Gallo-Italic, early Lombard) cantone (“edge, corner; canton”), ultimately representing Latin cant- (“rim (of a wheel)”) with the addition of the -ō (accusative -ōnem) suffix forming augmentatives in Romance.


cap

Borrowed from Occitan cap, from Latin caput. Doublet of chef.

(Quebec, geography) cap (summit of a mountain)


col

→ Hausa: kwal

Inherited from Old French col, from Latin collum (“neck”). Doublet of cou.

(geography) col (dip on a mountain ridge)


mire

Borrowed from Italian mira, from Latin mīrō (“to wonder at”).


pas

Inherited from Old French pas, from Latin passus.
Its use as an auxiliary negative adverb comes from an accusative use (Latin nec… passum) in negative constructions – literally “not… a step”, i.e. “not at all” – originally used with certain verbs of motion. In older French other nouns could also be used in this way, such as ne… goutte (“not… a drop”) and ne… mie (“not… a crumb”), but in the modern language pas has become grammaticalized.

Pas de Calais


carton

→ Persian: کارتن (kârton)


relief

→ Bulgarian: реле́ф (reléf)

→ Danish: relief

→ Polish: relief

→ Romanian: relief

→ Russian: рельеф (relʹjef)

→ Swedish: relief

→ Turkish: rölyef

Inherited from Old French, from relever.

(geography, mineralogy) relief, surface elevation


longitude

Borrowed from Latin longitūdō (“length, a measured length”), from longus (“long”).


latitude

From Latin lātitūdō (“breadth, width, latitude”), from lātus (“broad, wide”), from older stlātus.

der

C’est ici que ça se passe, 30°50’ de latitude nord, 30°50’ de longitude ouest… à une journée de distance pour nous, et ils filent sud-sud-ouest à toute vapeur. À ce train-là nous ne verrons rien, […].

1921, H.G. Wells, translated by Henry-D. Davray and B. Kozakiewicz, La Guerre dans les Airs, Mercure de France, page 174:

Le Scoresby Sund est le plus vaste fjord du monde entier. Il est découpé dans la côte Orientale du Groenland entre 70° et 72° de latitude Nord et 22° et 30° de longitude Ouest de Greenwich.

1928, Jean-Baptiste Charcot, Dans la mer du Groenland:

[…] le 12 mars, par 20 degrés de latitude Nord, je rencontrai les vents alizés, je pouvais compter dorénavant sur un plus faible et agréable navigation dans les mers tropicales.

1929, Alain Gerbault, “À la poursuite du soleil”, in De New-York à Tahiti, volume 1:

(geography) the distance from a place to the equator measured in degrees on the meridian; parallel viewing


plateau

→ Catalan: plató

→ Danish: plateau

→ Dutch: plateau

→ English: plateau

→ German: Plateau

→ Greek: πλατό (plató)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: platå

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: platå

→ Portuguese: platô

→ Romanian: platou

desctree

→ Russian: плато́ (plató)
→ Ukrainian: плато́ (plató)

→ Spanish: plató

→ Swedish: platå

→ Turkish: plato


cingle

From Latin cingula, cingulum (“girdle”).


hachure

(cartography) a mapping hachure or the technique itself


assemblage

(cartography) juxtaposition of several maps or cuttings to create a larger map


vallée

Inherited from Middle French valee, from Old French valee, from val + -ée, from Latin vallis. Cf. also Medieval Latin valleta.


désert

fr-adj

désert (feminine déserte, masculine plural déserts, feminine plural désertes)

déserte (feminine)
déserts (masculine plural)
désertes (feminine plural)

Inherited from Old French desert, borrowed from Latin dēsertus.


combe

From Transalpine Gaulish *cumba, from Proto-Celtic *kumbā. Compare Breton komm (“river-bed”), Irish com, Welsh cwm.

(geography) combe (valley or hollow, often wooded and with no river)


mamelon

(geography) hillock, knoll (rounded elevation or protuberance)


golfe

→ Romanian: golf

Borrowed from Italian golfo, from Vulgar Latin or Late Latin colfus, culfus, alteration of colpus, from Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos). Doublet of gouffre.


hexagone

(geography) Alternative spelling of Hexagone (“mainland France”)


géographie

desctree

→ Dutch: geografie
→ Indonesian: geografi

⇒ Haitian Creole: jewografi

→ Romanian: geografie

→ Walloon: djeyografeye

Borrowed from Latin geōgraphia, from Ancient Greek γεωγραφία (geōgraphía).

geography (study of physical structure and inhabitants of the Earth)


territoire

→ Romanian: teritoriu

Borrowed from Latin territōrium. Compare the inherited doublet terroir.


pôle

Inherited from Middle French pole, from Old French pole, from Latin polus, from Ancient Greek πόλος (pólos).


bassin

→ Czech: bazén

→ Danish: bassin

→ German: Bassin

→ Lithuanian: baseinas

→ Persian: باسن

→ Polish: basen

→ Romanian: bazin

→ Russian: бассейн (bassejn)

→ Swedish: bassäng

From Middle French bassin, from Old French bacin, from Vulgar Latin *baccinus, *baccinum, probably from Gaulish.


légende

From Old French legende, from Medieval Latin legenda, feminine of Latin legendus, gerundive of legēre.

legend (story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events)


cratère

Borrowed from Latin crātēr, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek κρατήρ (kratḗr).


Moyen-Orient

(geopolitics) Middle East (region comprising West Asia without the South Caucasus and additionally including all of Egypt (not just the Sinai) and all of Turkey (not just Asian Turkey)


rigole

Inherited from Old French regol, from Middle Dutch regel (“row”), from Latin rēgula (“straight line”). Doublet of rail, règle, reille, and rille.

doublet

(geography) groove, fissure, hollow (naturally occurring depression or furrow, often due to a meteorological event)


estuaire

Borrowed from Latin aestuārium. Doublet of étier.


dépression

(geography) depression (area that is lower than its surroundings)


isthme

Learned borrowing from Latin isthmus, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἰσθμός (isthmós).


arctique

Inherited from Old French arctique, borrowed from Latin arcticus.

(geography, relational) of the Arctic; Arctic


canevas

→ Turkish: kanvas

From a combination of Old French chanevas, chenevas and Old Picard canevach. The Old French comes from a root ultimately derived from Latin *canapus, from cannabis, such as that of chanvre, possibly through a Vulgar Latin root *cannabāceus or *cannapāceus, and the Old Picard comes from Old Northern French canevas, of ultimately the same origin as the previous word. Compare English canvas, itself borrowed from Old Northern French through Anglo-Norman.


toundra

(geography) tundra (flat treeless arctic region)


oule

(geography, by extension) watercourse that contains such a pothole


éolien

fr-adj

éolien (feminine éolienne, masculine plural éoliens, feminine plural éoliennes)

éolienne (feminine)
éoliens (masculine plural)
éoliennes (feminine plural)


banquise

→ Catalan: banquisa

→ Italian: banchisa

→ Portuguese: banquisa

→ Spanish: banquisa

→ Turkish: bankiz

Most likely from a North Germanic language; compare Norwegian pakkis, Danish pakis, Swedish packis, all formed from Old Norse pakki (“package, parcel”) and íss (“ice”), with probable influence from banc (compare German Eisbank (literally “ice bank”)).

(geography) sea ice, pack ice, ice floe; ice field


colure

From Latin colurus, ultimately from Ancient Greek κόλουρος (kólouros, “truncated, dock-tailed”). Compare English colure.


presqu'île

presqu’ île (canonical feminine)
presqu’îles (plural)

From presque (“almost”) + île (“island”), a calque of Latin paenīnsula.

Mytilène […] s’étageait autrefois en amphithéâtre sur une presqu’île à demi détachée, qui était reliée à la terre que par des ponts de pierre blanche.

1901, Pierre Louÿs, “Lesbos aujourd'hui”, in Archipel, published 1932:


adret

Borrowed from Occitan. Doublet of adroit.

(geography, Alps) sun-facing side of a mountain


cotidal

fr-adj

cotidal (feminine cotidale, masculine plural cotidaux, feminine plural cotidales)

cotidale (feminine)
cotidaux (masculine plural)
cotidales (feminine plural)

courbe cotidal


mondrain

L’air peu à peu tidédissait, les sierras espagnoles défilaient doucement à l’horizon et des mirages en forme de mondrains et de falaises prolongeaient le spectacle pendant des journées entières, au large de la côte d’Afrique trop basse et marécageuse pour être directement visible.

1955, Claude Lévi-Strauss, chapter VII, in Tristes Tropiques, Plon, published 1993, →ISBN, page 67; republished as John & Doreen Weightman, transl., Tristes Tropiques, Penguin, 2011, →ISBN:

— The air gradually became warmer, the Spanish sierras went slowly by on the horizon and, off the African coast, which was too low and swampy to be directly visible, the spectacle was prolonged for days on end by mirages representing hillocks and cliff faces.


Pot-au-Noir

On approchait du Pot-au-Noir, redouté des anciens navigateurs. Les vents propres aux deux hémisphères s’arrêtent de part et d’autre de cette zone où les voiles pendait pendant des semaines, sans un souffle pour les animer.

1955, Claude Lévi-Strauss, chapter VIII, in Tristes Tropiques, Plon, published 1993, →ISBN, page 79; republished as John & Doreen Weightman, transl., Tristes Tropiques, Penguin, 2011, →ISBN:

— We were approaching Le Pot-au-Noir (the Doldrums) which was greatly feared by the old navigators. The winds peculiar to both hemispheres stop on either side of this area, and the sails would hang for weeks on end without a single breath of wind to stir them into life.


eutrophe

(geography, of a swamp or a similar water reservoir) eutrophic, providing nutrients


ubac

→ English: ubac

Borrowed from Occitan ubac, from Latin opācus. Doublet of opaque.


photogrammétrie

fr-noun

photogrammétrie f (plural photogrammétries)


verseau

(geography) an uncovered slope above an entablature used to carry away water


lieu-dit

C’est vrai qu’ils sont plaisants, tous ces petits villages / Tous ces bourgs, ces hameaux, ces lieux-dits, ces cités

1972, Georges Brassens (lyrics and music), “La Ballade des gens qui sont nés quelque part”, in Fernande:

It's true that they are pleasant, all these little villages / All these market towns, these hamlets, these localities, these cities

(geography, toponymy) the smallest geographical area bearing a traditional name


IGN

(France, geography) Initialism of Institut Géographique National (the French national geographic institute, now called Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière)


cours d'eau

cours d’eau (canonical masculine)
cours d’eau (plural)

Holonym: eau de surface

Meronyms: berge, bras, cascade, chute d’eau, confluent, embouchure, gué, lit, rapides, source

(geography) watercourse, waterway, stream, run


eau de surface

eau de surface f (plural eaux de surface)

Meronyms: cours d’eau, plan d’eau


Ral

(France, geography) Abbreviation of régional.


géocodage

Calque of English geocoding. géocoder + -age.


géocoder

géocoder (infinitive)
avoir + past participle (infinitive multiword-construction)
géocodant (gerund participle present)
ayant + past participle (gerund multiword-construction participle present)
géocodé (participle past)
géocode (first-person indicative present singular)
géocodes (indicative present second-person singular)
géocode (indicative present singular third-person)
géocodons (first-person indicative plural present)
géocodez (indicative plural present second-person)
géocodent (indicative plural present third-person)
géocodais (first-person imperfect indicative singular)
géocodais (imperfect indicative second-person singular)
géocodait (imperfect indicative singular third-person)
géocodions (first-person imperfect indicative plural)
géocodiez (imperfect indicative plural second-person)
géocodaient (imperfect indicative plural third-person)
géocodai (first-person historic indicative past singular)
géocodas (historic indicative past second-person singular)
géocoda (historic indicative past singular third-person)
géocodâmes (first-person historic indicative past plural)
géocodâtes (historic indicative past plural second-person)
géocodèrent (historic indicative past plural third-person)
géocoderai (first-person future indicative singular)
géocoderas (future indicative second-person singular)
géocodera (future indicative singular third-person)
géocoderons (first-person future indicative plural)
géocoderez (future indicative plural second-person)
géocoderont (future indicative plural third-person)
géocoderais (conditional first-person singular)
géocoderais (conditional second-person singular)
géocoderait (conditional singular third-person)
géocoderions (conditional first-person plural)
géocoderiez (conditional plural second-person)
géocoderaient (conditional plural third-person)
future of avoir + past participle (future indicative multiword-construction perfect)
conditional of avoir + past participle (conditional multiword-construction perfect)
géocode (first-person present singular subjunctive)
géocodes (present second-person singular subjunctive)
géocode (present singular subjunctive third-person)
géocodions (first-person plural present subjunctive)
géocodiez (plural present second-person subjunctive)
géocodent (plural present subjunctive third-person)
géocodasse (first-person imperfect singular subjunctive)
géocodasses (imperfect second-person singular subjunctive)
géocodât (imperfect singular subjunctive third-person)
géocodassions (first-person imperfect plural subjunctive)
géocodassiez (imperfect plural second-person subjunctive)
géocodassent (imperfect plural subjunctive third-person)
géocode (imperative second-person singular)
géocodons (first-person imperative plural)
géocodez (imperative plural second-person)


Forez

Le monde de la chasse dans la Loire est en deuil. Un drame s’est produit ce samedi 28 septembre au cours d’une chasse privée au lieu-dit « Les Germains », à Bussy-Albieux, dans le nord-ouest du Forez.

2024 September 28, Naël Dandachi, “Un homme de 42 ans tué au cours d’une chasse privée dans le Forez”, in Le Progrès:

(geography) a natural region and historical province of France corresponding approximately to the central part of the modern Loire département and a part of the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme départements.