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FRENCH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gaine.

sheath, scabbard (for dagger etc.)

5 characters2 syllables approx.Français language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɡɛn/

  1. sheath, scabbard (for dagger etc.)

    feminine

  2. casing, sheathing, sheath (of a cable)

    feminine

  3. sheath

    feminine
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle French guaine, from Old French guaïne, inherited from Latin vāgīna (“sheath, scabbard”). Doublet of borrowed vagin. Cognate with Italian guaina, Catalan beina, Spanish vaina, Portuguese bainha. The change of the onset from Vulgar Latin /v/ to Old French /(ɡ)w/ is due to Germanic influence. One theory sees in it a confluence with Frankish *wāgi (“cup”, compare Old English wǣġe). Alternatively it might be simply that as a military term the word was used most frequently among the Frankish warrior class and therefore came to be generalised in the form corresponding to their accent.

verb/ɡɛn/

  1. inflection of gainer: first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive

    first-person · form-of · indicative · present · singular · subjunctive · third-person

  2. inflection of gainer: second-person singular imperative

    form-of · imperative · second-person · singular
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle French guaine, from Old French guaïne, inherited from Latin vāgīna (“sheath, scabbard”). Doublet of borrowed vagin. Cognate with Italian guaina, Catalan beina, Spanish vaina, Portuguese bainha. The change of the onset from Vulgar Latin /v/ to Old French /(ɡ)w/ is due to Germanic influence. One theory sees in it a confluence with Frankish *wāgi (“cup”, compare Old English wǣġe). Alternatively it might be simply that as a military term the word was used most frequently among the Frankish warrior class and therefore came to be generalised in the form corresponding to their accent.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.