caillou

Borrowed from Norman caillou, from Old French caillou, kailleu, caillo, caliou, cailloun, calloun, related to Judeo-Old French chailos, chaillous and Old French chaille (“small stone, pebble”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a Transalpine Gaulish *caljo- or less likely allied to Old Dutch kei (“stone”), from Proto-West Germanic *kagi.

Compare Picard cailleu, Walloon caie; also Dutch kei (“stone, rock”).

• IPA^(key): /ka.ju/

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• Homophone: cailloux
• Rhymes: -ju

caillou m (plural cailloux)

1. gravel, small stone
2. (colloquial) head
   • 2006, Virginie Despentes, “King Kong Girl”, in King Kong Théorie [King Kong Theory], Éditions Grasset, →ISBN, page 115:

     Est-ce qu'il se trouve sexy, lui, dans son costard pourri et quatre cheveux de rab sur le caillou ?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Only seven words in French ending in -ou have their plurals in -oux instead of -ous: bijou, caillou, chou, genou, hibou, joujou, pou.

• caillouter
• cailloutis

• pierre

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

Likely related to the origin of Old French gal (“small pebble”).

caillou m (plural caillous)

1. stone; pebble