fourmi

French

Alternative forms

• froumi, frémi, fromi, froumille (Louisiana)

Etymology

Inherited from Old French furmi, from a Vulgar Latin *formīcus, from Latin formīca (cf. also the feminine Old French formie).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fuʁ.mi/

  • Audio (Quebec, Montreal):

    (file)

  • Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

    (file)

• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): [fuɾ.mi]

Noun

fourmi f (plural fourmis)

Une fourmi charpentière noire (A black carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus)

1. ant

   Une fourmi m'a piqué.

   An ant bit me.

2. (plural only) pins and needles

   Avoir des fourmis dans les jambes. ― To have pins and needles in one's legs.

Usage notes

• Also masculine in Louisiana.

Derived terms

• avoir des fourmis dans les jambes
• fourmi blanc

Related terms

• fourmilier
• fourmiller

Descendants

• Antillean Creole: foumi
• Guianese Creole: fronmi
• Haitian Creole: foumi
• Mauritian Creole: fourmi
• Réunion Creole French: fourmi
• Seychellois Creole: fourmi

Further reading

• “fourmi”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
• Valdman, Albert, et al. (2009), Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities, Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, →ISBN

Anagrams

• fumoir

Mauritian Creole

Alternative forms

• furmi

Etymology

From French fourmi.

Noun

fourmi

1. ant

References

• Carpooran, Arnaud (2011), Diksioner Morisien [Mauritian Dictionary] (in Mauritian Creole), second edition, Éditions Le Printemps, →ISBN, page 374

Réunion Creole French

Etymology

From French fourmi.

Noun

fourmi

1. ant

References

• Armand, Alain (1987), Dictionnaire Kréol rénioné/Français [Reunionese Creole-French Dictionary] (in French), Océan Éditions, →ISBN, page 109

Seychellois Creole

Etymology

From French fourmi.

Noun

fourmi

1. ant