English
noir
Noir comes from French noir ‘black in colour’, and goes back to Latin niger.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnigeras nigrum‘wan, shining black’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400noir‘black (colour)’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form‘black’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘black in colour’
- Englishearliest quotation 2007same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnigeras nigrum‘wan, shining black’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400noir‘black (colour)’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form‘black’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘black in colour’
- Englishearliest quotation 2007same form
Earliest quotation: 2007, Wendell Jamieson, Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt, Nights Are Noir in Fog City: “Several noirs, including “Raw Deal,” have been set here.”
The story
Shortened from film noir, and from French noir.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts ‘night’
through Proto-Indo-European *negʷ- ‘bare, naked’
night, naked, nude, negro, gymnastics, gymnasium, actin, gymnast, nocturnal, naga, nox, nocturne, nudism, 50 more
through Latin niger ‘wan, shining black’
Today it means
adj Of or pertaining to film noir, or the atmosphere associated with that genre
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin niger / noir