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pied noir

American  
[pee-ey nwahr, pyey, pyey nwar] / piˌeɪ ˈnwɑr, ˌpjeɪ, pjeɪ ˈnwar /
Or pied-noir

noun

Often Disparaging.
pieds noirs plural
  1. an Algerian-born French person.

  2. formerly, a person of French origin living in French-ruled Algeria.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of pied noir

1960–65; < French: literally, black foot

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Bergé had grown up in a family that did not care that he was gay; for Saint Laurent’s conservative father, a pied noir in Algeria, having a gay son was a source of deep embarrassment.

From Economist Sep. 12, 2017

She was a French teacher and a pied noir.

From The New Yorker May 1, 2017

Forced to choose between "the suitcase or the coffin," nearly 1 million white pied noir settlers tearfully abandoned their homeland.

From Time Magazine Archive

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