Word of the Day : February 14, 2022

billet-doux

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noun bill-ee-DOO

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What It Means

A billet-doux is a love letter.

// While helping her grandmother pack, Abbie came across a billet-doux from her grandfather that was written when the two were teenagers.

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billet-doux in Context

"What 'The French Dispatch' celebrates is something more specific than everyday newspapering…. Anderson has inscribed a billet-doux to The New Yorker in its mid-20th-century glory years that is, at the same time, an ardent, almost orgiastic paean to the pleasures of print." — A.O. Scott, The New York Times, 20 Oct. 2021

Did You Know?

In French, billet doux means "sweet letter." English writers first fell in love with the word during the 17th century and have been committed to using it as a romantic alternative to "love letter" ever since.