frou-frou
See also: froufrou, froofroo, froo-froo, frufru, and frufrú
English
Alternative forms
- froufrou, froo-froo, fru-fru, froofroo, frufru
Etymology
Borrowed from French frou-frou, an onomatopoeia.
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈfɹuːfɹuː/
- Hyphenation: frou‧frou
Audio (UK) (file)
Noun
frou-frou (plural frou-frous)
- (onomatopoeia) A rustling sound, particularly the rustling of a large silk dress.
- 1870 June 4, Athenaeum, p. 734:
- The modern frou-frou of satin and gros-de-Naples skirts is nothing to the rustling of brocaded silks.
- 1876, William Besant & al., The Golden Butterfly, Act I, Scene vi, l. 108:
- ...the frou-frou of life was lost to her...
- 1870 June 4, Athenaeum, p. 734:
Adjective
frou-frou (comparative more frou-frou, superlative most frou-frou)
- Liable to create the sound of rustling cloth, similar to 19th-century dresses.
- Highly ornamented, overly elaborate; excessively girly.
- They ate in a frou-frou restaurant at the top of a skyscraper.
- (derogatory) Unimportant, silly, useless.
- Bob was off faffing about doing frou-frou nonsense whilst Edwina kept her nose to the grindstone.
Verb
frou-frou (third-person singular simple present frou-frous, present participle frou-frouing, simple past and past participle frou-froued)
- (rare) To move with the sound of rustling dresses.
- 1905 May 18, Truth, p. 1289:
- ...frou-frouing femininities...
- 1905 May 18, Truth, p. 1289:
Usage notes
Almost exclusively seen in the form frou-frouing.
References
- “frou-frou, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2021. - “frou-frou, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2021.
French
Etymology
Imitative.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fʁu.fʁu/
Noun
frou-frou m (plural frous-frous)
- a frou-frou; a rustling sound, as of silk fabric
Derived terms
- froufrouter
Descendants
- English: frou-frou
- Portuguese: frufru
Further reading
- “frou-frou”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.