ébauche
See also: ebauche and ébauché
English
Noun
ébauche (plural ébauches)
- A sketch
- A maquette
- The plates and bridges of an unfinished watch
French
Etymology
From early modern French esbauche (“the first form of a work of art, a proto-type”), deverbal of Middle French esbaucher (“to rough-hew, frame”), alteration (due to Middle French bauche (“beam, wooden crosspiece”)) of Old French esbosquier, esboskier (“to rough-hew beams”), from es- (“out”) + bosc (“wood, firewood”), from Frankish *busk (“wood, firewood”), from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“wood, thicket”). Cognate with Old French esbochier (“to prune grapes”), French bois (“wood”), bau (“crossbeam”). More at bush, balk.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /e.boʃ/
Audio (file)
Noun
ébauche f (plural ébauches)
- draft (early version of a written work)
Verb
ébauche
- inflection of ébaucher:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- “ébauche”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.