cloporte
French
Etymology
Likely from clore (“to close”) + porte (“door”), from its habit of rolling into a ball. Another possible derivation is from an unattested *croteporque, mirrored in Occitan porquet de crota (“woodlouse”, literally “cave-pig”). In any case, the analysis in the first proposal is probably responsible for the figurative extension of the word to "porter, concierge".
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /klɔ.pɔʁt/
Audio (file)
Noun
cloporte m (plural cloportes)
- woodlouse
- (slang) porter, concierge
Further reading
- “cloporte”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.