chenille

Borrowed from French chenille. Doublet of canicule.

• IPA^(key): /ʃəˈniːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːl

chenille (countable and uncountable, plural chenilles)

1. An extremely soft and bunchy fabric often used to make sweaters.
   • 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, A House is Built, Chapter VII, Section vi:

     The house seemed unfamiliar in the dark stormy light; the red and purple glass of the front door made livid bruises on the linoleum; the green chenille curtain was like a veil of seaweed.

• chenille plant

• Hellenic

< French chenille

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃenil/, [ˈʃe̞nil]
• IPA^(key): /ˈʃenilːe/, [ˈʃe̞nilːe̞]
• Rhymes: -enil

chenille

1. chenille (type of fabric)

Inherited from Latin canīcula (“little dog”) (because of a caterpillar's head). Doublet of canicule.

• IPA^(key): /ʃə.nij/, /ʃnij/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /ʃə.nɪj/, /ʃnɪj/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

chenille f (plural chenilles)

1. caterpillar
   • 1943, Antoine Saint-Exupéry, chapter IX, in Le petit prince [The Little Prince], New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, page 39:

     Il faut bien que je supporte deux ou trois chenilles si je veux connaître les papillons.

     Well, I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.

2. chenille
3. caterpillar track, snow chain
4. whirligig (fairground attraction)

• → Catalan: xenilla
• → English: chenille
• → Italian: ciniglia
• → Romanian: șenilă
• → Russian: шине́ль (šinélʹ), шени́лл (šeníll)

• mite
• papillon m

• “chenille”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.