jean

From the Middle English Gene (“Genoa”), from the Old French Jannes. Bleu de Gênes (“Genovese blue”) was a blue dye made in Genoa used to tint the denim cloth produced in Nîmes (de Nîmes). Doublet of Genoa and Geneva and distantly related to knee.

• enPR: jēn, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒiːn/
• (obsolete) enPR: jān, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒeɪn/^[1]

• Audio (UK):

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• Rhymes: -iːn
• Homophones: gene, Gene

jean (countable and uncountable, plural jeans)

1. (chiefly attributive) Denim.

   She wore a tattered jean jacket.

   • 1843, Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit:

     Lastly, he took out a common frock of coarse dark jean, which he drew over his own under-clothing; and a felt hat—he had purposely left his own upstairs.

• bejeaned
• jeaned
• jeans
• satin jean

• Jaen, Jane, Jaén, Jena, jane

Borrowed from English jean.

• IPA^(key): /dʒin/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland):

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• Homophones: djinn, gin

jean m (plural jeans)

1. a pair of jeans

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

From Old Irish ·dénai, prototonic form of do·gní.

The past form ren is from Old Irish do·rigni, deuterotonic form of the perfect tense of do·gní.

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪn/, /d͡ʒen/

jean (past ren, future independent nee, verbal noun jannoo, past participle jeant)

1. (auxiliary) A syntactic marker that carries the tense of the verb, replacing its synthetic form; the true verb follows as a verbal noun.

   Ren (replaces hie) eh goll thie. ― He went home.

   Yinnagh (replaces ragh) eh goll thie. ― He would go home.

   Nee (replaces hed) eh goll thie. ― He will go home.

   Jean (replaces gow) goll thie. ― Go home.

2. do, make

jean m (plural jeans)

1. jeans

• “jean”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10