French word

silhouette

Pronunciation

IPA/silwɛt/

Meaning

  • feminine nounsilhouette

Example

Je vois la silhouette de mon ami au loin.

I can see my friend's silhouette in the distance.

Illustration for silhouette (silhouette)

More examples

Après les fêtes, elle veut garder sa silhouette.

After the holidays, she wants to keep her figure.

Core concept

A recognizable person or object reduced to its outer outline, with inner details left unseen.

Common phrases

  • garder sa silhouette

    keep one's figure

  • perdre sa silhouette

    lose one's figure

  • avoir une silhouette fine

    have a slender figure

Similar words

forme: The overall shape of something as seen from the outside.
apparence: The way someone or something looks in general.
profil: The outline of a face or body seen from the side.
contour: The line or boundary forming the outside of a shape.

Definition in French

Apparence générale ou profil d'une personne ou d'un objet telle qu'on la reconnaît par sa forme extérieure plutôt que par ses détails.

Word origin

The noun comes from the surname of Étienne de Silhouette, whose name became associated in eighteenth-century France with inexpensive profile portraits and shadow images.

Usage tips

  • French uses the feminine noun la silhouette, and a person's outline is commonly specified with de, as in la silhouette de mon ami.

Other meanings

  • outlinenoun
  • shapenoun

Word lists with this word