témoin

See also: têmoin

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French tesmoing, from Old French tesmoin, from Latin testimōnium. The same Latin noun was also borrowed into Old French as testimonie, testemoigne (whence English testimony); this has been lost in modern French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /te.mwɛ̃/

• Audio; “un témoin”:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: té‧moin
• Rhymes: -wɛ̃, -ɛ̃
• Homophone: témoins

Noun

témoin m (plural témoins, feminine (rare) témoignesse or (both nonstandard) témouine or témointe)

1. (law) witness
2. (marriage, weddings) best man
3. (athletics, relay racing) baton
4. indicator
5. control, control group
6. (Internet, software) Ellipsis of témoin de navigation.

Usage notes

• The masculine noun is generally used for both male and female witnesses. The feminine gender is sometimes used to refer to a woman : une témoin.

Derived terms

• appartement-témoin
• barre des témoins
• butte témoin, butte-témoin
• faux témoin
• passation de témoin
• passer le témoin
• prendre à témoin
• témoin à charge
• témoin à décharge
• témoin auriculaire
• témoin de Jéhovah
• témoin de navigation
• témoin oculaire
• Témoins de Jéhovah

Related terms

• faux témoignage
• témoignage
• témoigne
• témoigner

Further reading

• “témoin”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.