Retrouvailles
- “french word for reunion joy”
- “retrouvailles meaning”
- “seeing someone again after a long time word”
- “is retrouvailles romantic”
:: COMPARE ::
RetrouvaillesvsLa douleur exquise
The short answer
The instructive pairing. Retrouvailles is real, current, dictionary-attested French that English rarely borrows. La douleur exquise is a phrase anglophones borrow constantly and French speakers use for something else. One is under-borrowed; the other is over-borrowed.
Side by side
| Aspect | Retrouvailles | La douleur exquise |
|---|---|---|
| Used by French speakers | Daily | Medically |
| English awareness | Low | High |
| Meaning survives translation | Yes | No |
| Verdict | Under-borrowed | Over-borrowed |
| Real French | Yes, as used | Yes, but medical |
| Borrowed by English | Rarely | Constantly |
Which one you meant
Readers who land here meaning Retrouvailles rather than La douleur exquise are usually searching for phrases like “french word for reunion joy”, “retrouvailles meaning”, “seeing someone again after a long time word”.
La Douleur Exquise
- “french word for the pain of unrequited love”
- “la douleur exquise meaning”
- “is la douleur exquise real french”
- “word for loving someone you can't have”
Which came first
Retrouvailles. 1782 — CNRTL's first attestation, in the singular, in Louis-Sébastien Mercier's Tableau de Paris.
- 1782RetrouvaillesCNRTL's first attestation, in the singular, in Louis-Sébastien Mercier's Tableau de Paris.
- 22 August 1999La Douleur ExquiseThe Sex and the City episode 'La Douleur Exquise!' airs — season 2, episode 12 — the vector by which the romantic sense reached a mass English-speaking audience.
Read either one in full