Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·French ·1840s
Matinee
from matinée
- Meaning
- An afternoon performance of a play, film, or concert.
- Source word
- matinée
- Route into English
- French *matinée* (morning) → English with a semantic shift: in French the word means the whole morning as an event; in English it narrowed to a daytime show, contrasted with an evening one.
- Arrived
- 1840s
From French
Beyond the Norman conquest's Old French foundation, English kept borrowing from French for art, cuisine, fashion, and diplomacy throughout the modern period.
English borrows.
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