Skip to content

outre

goatskin water bag, wineskin

noun OO-tr Rare

Origin: Latin 'uter' (leather bag)

Usage Note

Outre as a noun refers to a traditional animal-skin vessel for carrying water or wine, now mainly encountered in literary, historical, or North African contexts. It is not to be confused with the preposition/adjective outre (beyond, extreme) or the prefix outre- (trans-). The feminine plural is outres. The expression boire comme une outre (to drink like a fish) is a vivid idiom.

Examples

"Les nomades transportaient l'eau dans des outres en cuir."

Natural Translation

The nomads carried water in leather wineskins.

Free starter pack

Building your French vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common French words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore French by topic