French Conversation · Level 94
58 words
French word
paille
Pronunciation
IPA/paj/
Meaning
- feminine nounstraw
Example
Le toit de la maison est couvert de paille.
The roof of the house is covered in straw.
More examples
Les chevaux dorment sur de la paille.
The horses sleep on straw.
Core concept
Thin golden grain stems lying together as a lightweight material, with a single stem offering a natural image for a drink tube.
Common phrases
une botte de paille
a bundle of straw
une litière de paille
straw bedding
un brin de paille
a strand of straw
Similar words
foin: Grass that has been cut and dried to feed livestock.
litière: Bedding material laid down for animals to sleep on.
Definition in French
Brin sec provenant des tiges de céréales, considéré comme matériau léger ; par extension, petit tube utilisé pour boire.
Word origin
French paille comes through Old French from Latin palea, a word for straw or chaff, and cognate forms include Italian paglia and Spanish paja.
Usage tips
- In the material sense, paille is usually an uncountable noun with de la, whereas une paille normally means one drinking straw.
Other meanings
- drinking strawnoun