French word

cohue

Pronunciation

IPA/koy/

Meaning

  • feminine nouncrowd

Example

Il y avait une cohue devant la gare.

There was a crowd in front of the station.

Illustration for cohue (crowd)

More examples

On a dû attendre dehors à cause de la cohue du matin.

We had to wait outside because of the morning crowd.

Core concept

A packed human bottleneck where bodies press together and forward movement nearly stops.

Common phrases

  • éviter la cohue

    avoid the crowd

  • la cohue du matin

    the morning crowd

Similar words

foule: A large crowd gathered in one place, causing congestion.
bousculade: Disorderly jostling in which people push and bump into one another.

Definition in French

Foule compacte et pressée où les personnes sont entassées et ont du mal à se déplacer.

Word origin

French cohue comes from Old French cohue, borrowed from Medieval Latin cohua, a word for a crowd or gathering.

Usage tips

  • Cohue is feminine and often sounds more intense and somewhat more formal than the common noun foule.

Other meanings

  • crushnoun

Opposites

Word lists with this word