Etymology Explorer › French

Where does “rabat-joie” come from?

rabat-joie (French) comes from French joie, from English Joy, from Middle English joye, from Old French joie, from Latin gaudia, from Latin gaudium, from Latin -ium, from Latin -ius — Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems.

rabat-joie (French): killjoy, spoilsport, wet blanket

Definitions

  1. killjoy, spoilsport, wet blanket

Ancestry of “rabat-joie”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchjoiejoy
2EnglishJoy—
3Middle Englishjoyejoy; elation; gaiety
4Old Frenchjoiejoy; Alternative form of jouel
5Latingaudianominative plural of gaudium; accusative plural...
6Latingaudiumjoy, delight
7Latin-iumSuffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes...
8Latin-iusforming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter...
9Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
10Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →