Kilo Lingo

/sɛ̃.ɡle/

Line drawing of cinglé
Coloured illustration of cinglé
#1699 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

nuts, crackers, mad

Word origin

The past participle of cingler ('to lash, to whip'), an altered form of sangler, from Latin cingula ('belt, girth'). The colloquial sense follows the same image as English 'a bit touched', someone who has taken a knock to the head.

Origin
Latin
Root
cingula
English cognates
cincture, precinct

Grammar

Femininecinglée
Masc pluralcinglés
Fem pluralcinglées

Examples

C' , cette .

That whole business is completely nuts.

cette .

I am going to go crackers if the neighbour puts that song on again.

.

You would have to be crackers to go out to sea in this weather.

, , .

We had a mad idea and, against all expectation, it worked.

paraissait au .

The project looked mad to begin with.

Where this fits

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French · Free printables

cinglé: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the French word "cinglé" (nuts, crackers, mad): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 34.