{"id":24039,"date":"2025-05-16T12:48:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T12:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24039"},"modified":"2025-05-16T12:48:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T12:48:44","slug":"rustling-frou-frous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24039","title":{"rendered":"Rustling Frou-frous"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The word <strong>frou-frou<\/strong> came up last night at the French conversation group and I thought I&#8217;d find out more about it.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/clotho98\/3802402967\/in\/photolist-6N1iVR-2qJtVB7-te1Goz-2nXUkWA-2nXTTrU-2nb9DAc-2nb9DCB-2qyvMQi-8M5tj3-2qduXgG-83zxqq-2gdEnbM-2gdEC2f-6QPmBu-2k2R3fs-HhXhVY-sffyRw-2jt6jo4-2o4E1Ub-2nmkxvc-pYtLLM-4MLhyb-2nXUmha-2nXRxkS-2k2MdYB-2nbaxsN-2k2R333-2k2RDQw-f6ndLx-2gdEmXF-6UKBkW-2km1Nu9-4Yyqy4-2k2McWX-2k2RDnY-3cckZn-4ibJBV-Uq2mHe-g7SmVV-2nba8i9-g7RSj7-2nbiazq-2m38asW-2gtpxu8-2gtpu9F-2gtprZv-2gtpvWt-2nb553G-2gtpwny-2gtpfyy\" title=\"March 1860 Godey&#x27;s Lady&#x27;s Book Fashion Plate\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/2605\/3802402967_8b6b6a8caf_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"404\" alt=\"March 1860 Godey&#x27;s Lady&#x27;s Book Fashion Plate\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In French, <strong>frou-frou<\/strong> [f\u0281u.f\u0281u] refers to a rustling sound, as of silk fabric. It also means rustle, frilly, frilliness or frills. Related words include <strong>froufrouter<\/strong> (to swish, rustle), and <strong>froufroutement<\/strong> (rustle, scroop, swish) [<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.reverso.net\/french-english\/frou-frou\">source<\/a>]. It is of imitative origin [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/frou-frou#French\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Scroop<\/strong>? Apparently it means a rustling sound like that produced from friction between silk fibres; to produce a harsh scraping, grating sound, as of friction; to make sounds such as of a chair on the floor or chalk on a blackboard; or to produce a rustling sound, like that from friction between silk fibres, and is of imitative origin [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/scroop\">source<\/a>].  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Frou-frou<\/strong> [\u02c8f\u0279u\u02d0f\u0279u\u02d0] was borrowed into English and means:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A rustling sound, particularly the rustling of a large silk dress.<\/li>\n<li>Liable to create the sound of rustling cloth, similar to 19th-century dresses.<\/li>\n<li>Highly ornamented, overly elaborate; excessively girly.<\/li>\n<li>Unimportant, silly, useless.<\/li>\n<li>To move with the sound of rustling dresses [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/frou-frou#English\">source<\/a>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It has also been borrowed into Portuguese as <strong>frufru<\/strong>, where it means overly decorated or colourful, or a ruff, rustle or rustling (of fabrics) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/frufru#Portuguese\">source<\/a>], and into Spanish as <strong>frufr\u00fa<\/strong> (rustle, rustling (of fabrics)) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/frufr%C3%BA#Spanish\">source<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Other ways to say <strong>rustle<\/strong> in French include: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>froissement<\/strong> [f\u0281was.m\u0251\u0303] = rustle, rustling, crumpling, wrinkling (<em>of paper, fabric, etc<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li><strong>bruissement<\/strong> [b\u0281\u0265is.m\u0251\u0303] = rustling (of paper), murmuring, swish<\/li>\n<li><strong>bruire<\/strong> [b\u0281\u0265i\u0281] = to rustle, rattle, roar, murmur, whisper, hum, swish<\/li>\n<li><strong>froisser<\/strong> [f\u0281wa.se] = to crease, wrinkle, rustle, ruffle (feathers), strain (a muscle) hurt, offend, take offence [<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.reverso.net\/english-french\/rustle\">source<\/a>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you want to talk about rustling cattle or other animals, the word <strong>voler<\/strong> (to steal, rob, fly) is used in French, and the French equivalent of <strong>to rustle up<\/strong> (to prepare quickly) is <strong>pr\u00e9parer en vitesse<\/strong> (&#8220;to prepare \/ make hurriedly&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The word frou-frou came up last night at the French conversation group and I thought I&#8217;d find out more about it. In French, frou-frou [f\u0281u.f\u0281u] refers to a rustling sound, as of silk fabric. It also means rustle, frilly, frilliness or frills. Related words include froufrouter (to swish, rustle), and froufroutement (rustle, scroop, swish) [source]. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,107,111,10,41,64,78],"tags":[164,158,338,409,138,281,408,410,411,318,163],"class_list":["post-24039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-language","category-portuguese","category-spanish","category-words-and-phrases","tag-english","tag-etymology","tag-french","tag-frou-frou","tag-language","tag-omniglot","tag-portuguese","tag-rustle","tag-rustling","tag-spanish","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24039"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24043,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24039\/revisions\/24043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}