Recorded soon after 1900 for a discarded cigar or cigarette end, then extended to a whole cigarette by 1942. The deeper origin is unknown.
Cigarette
noun
smoking
informal
A casual, familiar word for a cigarette, common in conversation but usually avoided in formal or medical writing.
Examples
- Il est sorti fumer une clope.He went outside to smoke a cigarette.
- Tu peux me passer une clope ?Can you give me a cigarette?
- Elle a arrêté la clope il y a six mois.She gave up smoking six months ago.
- On se retrouve après la pause clope.We'll meet up after the smoke break.
- Le médecin a employé le mot cigarette plutôt que clope.The doctor used the word cigarette rather than the informal clope.
Similar words
cigarette
cibiche
sèche
tige
Cigarette butt
noun
smoking
archaic
An old familiar word, usually masculine, for the short end left after a cigarette or cigar has been smoked.
Examples
- Il a écrasé son clope dans le cendrier.He stubbed out his cigarette butt in the ashtray.
- Des clopes jonchaient le trottoir.Cigarette butts littered the pavement.
- Autrefois, certains ramassaient les clopes pour récupérer le tabac.In the past, some people picked up cigarette butts to recover the tobacco.
- Dans ce vieux récit, un clope désigne un mégot.In this old story, a clope means a cigarette butt.
- Aujourd'hui, mégot est plus clair que clope dans ce sens.Today, mégot is clearer than clope in this sense.
Similar words
mégot
bout
culot