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ordinateur

computer

noun ohr-dee-nah-TUR Less Common

Usage Note

Ordinateur was proposed in 1955 by the philologist Jacques Perret at IBM France's request, reviving a disused French word rather than borrowing the English 'computer'. A laptop is un ordinateur portable, often shortened to un portable in informal speech.

Examples

"Mon ordinateur est en panne."

Natural Translation

My computer has broken down.

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