billet-doux

[ bil-ey-doo, bil-ee-; French bee-yey-doo ]

/ ˈbɪl eɪˈdu, ˈbɪl i-; French bi yeɪˈdu /

noun, plural bil·lets-doux [bil-ey-dooz, bil-ee-; French bee-yey-doo] /ˈbɪl eɪˈduz, ˈbɪl i-; French bi yeɪˈdu/.

a love letter.

Nearby words

Origin of billet-doux

1665–75; < French: literally, sweet note. See billet¹, douce

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for billet-doux

A papal excommunication is a billet-doux compared to the Commination of Jugana.
The Lock And Key Library|Various
Adonis calls for a "pick-me-up" before he has strength enough to answer a billet-doux from Venus.
Kenelm Chillingly, Complete|Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Oh, you have not heard of the billet-doux that Schwarzfelder has written you?
In Hostile Red|Joseph Altsheler
We may fancy Madame La Croix slyly handing the billet-doux to the daughter, under the unsuspecting mother's very eyes.
The Anglo-French Entente in the Seventeenth Century|Charles Bastide

Remember that this is the first time I ever wrote a billet-doux, and I dont know how they are usually expressed.
The Bashful Lover (Novels of Paul de Kock Volume XIX)|Charles Paul de Kock

British Dictionary definitions for billet-doux

billet-doux

/ (ˌbɪlɪˈduː, French bijɛdu) /

noun plural billets-doux (ˌbɪlɪˈduːz, French bijɛdu)

old-fashioned, or jocular a love letter

Word Origin for billet-doux

C17: from French, literally: a sweet letter, from billet (see billet 1) + doux sweet, from Latin dulcis

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for billet-doux

billet-doux

also billet doux, 1670s, "love letter," French, literally "sweet note," from billet "document, note" (14c., diminutive of bille; see bill (n.1)) + doux "sweet," from Latin dulcis (see dulcet).