Meaning & use
derriere
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Meaning
nouncountablehumorouseuphemistic
A person's bottom, named in a light, playful or slightly old-fashioned way.
Grammar: Singular, often used with a possessive: her derriere.
Patterns
- someone's derriere
He slipped on the ice and landed on his derriere.
The toddler plopped down on her padded derriere.
Those jeans are cut to flatter the derriere.
Word forms
| plural | derrieres |
|---|
Common combinations
- land on your derriere
- She tripped and landed on her derriere.
- shapely derriere
- The sculpture has a shapely derriere.
- pat on the derriere
- The coach gave him a pat on the derriere, which he found awkward.
- sit on your derriere
- Stop sitting on your derriere and help me.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bottom
- Bottom is the neutral everyday word, while derriere sounds playful and a little fancy.
- rear
- Rear is a plain, slightly formal term that lacks the humorous tone of derriere.
- backside
- Backside is informal and more casual, with less of the mock-elegant feel.
- posterior
- Posterior is clinical or jokingly formal, while derriere sounds light and French.
Word family
- rear noun
- the back part of something
- derrieres noun
- the plural form
Commonly confused: derriere or dairy?
derriere vs dairy
Dairy sounds somewhat similar in casual speech but refers to milk products; derriere is a body-part word.
Practice
Which word would a speaker use to refer to the buttocks in a light, mock-polite way?
Choose one answer.
Derriere is the playful, polite-sounding word for the buttocks. Dermis is skin and diaphragm is a muscle in the chest, so both refer to other things.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “derriere”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.