taupe

Borrowed from French taupe, from Latin talpa (“mole”). Doublet of talpa.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /təʊp/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /toʊp/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊp

taupe (countable and uncountable, plural taupes)

1. A dark brownish-grey colour, the colour of moleskin.

   taupe:  

taupe (comparative more taupe, superlative most taupe)

1. Of a dark brownish-grey colour.
   • November 1915, Ben Hecht, “Life”, in The Little Review:

     At five o'clock the patch of daylight above the red-lighted exit door turned taupe, as though a gray curtain had been flung across it; […]

   • February 1952, Wallace Earle Stegner, “Pop Goes the Alley Cat”, in Harper's Magazine:

     In the front room, on an old taupe overstuffed sofa, the head of the house lay in a blanket bathrobe, […]

• Appendix:Colors

• ate up, eat up

Inherited from Old French taupe, inherited from Latin talpa.

• IPA^(key): /top/

• Audio (CA):

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• Audio:

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taupe f (plural taupes)

1. mole (burrowing mammal)
2. (figuratively) (espionage) mole (undercover agent)
3. tunneler
4. (education) higher mathematics class

taupe (plural taupes)

1. taupe

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

From Old French taupe, from Latin talpa.

• Audio (Jersey):

  (file)

taupe f (plural taupes)

1. (Jersey) mole (mammal)

• taupîn

From Latin talpa.

taupe oblique singular, f (oblique plural taupes, nominative singular taupe, nominative plural taupes)

1. mole (mammal)

• French: taupe
• Norman: taupe (Jersey)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

taupe m

1. mine (place from which ore is extracted)