faux pas

faux pas

See also: Fauxpas

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French faux pas (“faux pas, blunder; misstep, false step”).

Pronunciation

Singular

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəʊ pɑː/

Plural

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəʊ pɑːz/

Noun

faux pas (plural faux pas)

1. An embarrassing or tactless blunder.

   Synonyms: misstep, mistake, blunder; see also Thesaurus:error

   • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, IV.iii:

     Now my dear Lady Teazle if you but once make a trifling Faux Pas you can't conceive how cautious you would grow, and how ready to humour and agree with your Husband.

   • 1906, Chesterton, Charles Dickens, chapter 2

     A saint after repentance will forgive himself for a sin; a man about town will never forgive himself for a faux pas.

Usage notes

• Especially used in social situations and contexts.

Translations

social blunder

Catalan: pas fals m, pas en fals m, passa en fals f Chinese: Mandarin: 失禮／失礼 (zh) (shīlǐ), 失態／失态 (zh) (shītài), 失足 (zh) (shīzú), 過失／过失 (zh) (guòshī), 失誤／失误 (zh) (shīwù) Czech: faux pas (cs) n, trapas (cs) m Finnish: kömmähdys (fi), etikettivirhe, moka (fi), harha-askel (fi) French: faux pas (fr) m, (colloquial) impair (fr) m German: Fauxpas (de) m Italian: passo falso m Japanese: 過失 (ja) (かしつ, kashitsu) Polish: faux pas (pl) n Russian: беста́ктность (ru) f (bestáktnostʹ), некраси́вый посту́пок m (nekrasívyj postúpok), просту́пок (ru) m (prostúpok), опло́шность (ru) f (oplóšnostʹ) (blunder, mistake); ло́жный шаг m (lóžnyj šag) Slovak: trapas m, prešľap m Spanish: (informally) metida de pata (es) f, metedura de pata (es) f Swedish: klavertramp (sv) n, fadäs (sv) c Vietnamese: thất lễ (vi)

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fo pa/, /fo pɑ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

faux pas m (plural faux pas)

1. stumble, misstep, false step
2. (figuratively) faux pas, blunder

Descendants

• → Danish: faux pas
• → English: faux pas
• → German: Fauxpas
• → Polish: faux pas
• → Russian: фо па́ (fo pá)

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Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French faux pas.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔ ˈpa/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

faux pas n (indeclinable)

1. faux pas, blunder

   Synonyms: gafa, nietakt, wtopa, wpadka

Further reading

• faux pas in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• faux pas in Polish dictionaries at PWN