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mouton

sheep, mutton

noun moo-TOHN Less Common

Also means

sheepskin (material)

Usage Note

Mouton covers both the live animal and the meat on the plate — unlike English which has 'sheep' vs 'mutton'. Un mouton can also refer informally to a prison informer (a police plant). Revenons à nos moutons ('let's get back to our sheep') is a famous idiom meaning 'let's get back to the subject'.

Examples

"Le fermier compte ses moutons."

Natural Translation

The farmer counts his sheep.

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