cul-de-sac

Where does the word "cul-de-sac" come from? It comes from French cul-de-sac, and was adopted directly into English (1738).

Cul-de-sac’s story begins in French: cul-de-sac meant “the bottom of a bag.” Literally bottom of a bag, describing a dead-end passage. It reached English by 1738 as cul-de-sac. French 'bottom of the sack'; ironically the phrase is rare in modern French, which uses 'impasse'. Today, cul-de-sac means a street or passage closed at one end, a dead end.

1. Stage 1 · French · 1700s cul-de-sac "the bottom of a bag", literally bottom of a bag, describing a dead-end passage.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1738 cul-de-sac "a street closed at one end", French 'bottom of the sack'; ironically the phrase is rare in modern French, which uses 'impasse'.