Word of the Day

Wednesday, February 14, 2001

billet-doux

\bil-ay-DOO\ , noun;

plural billets-doux \bil-ay-DOO(Z)\

A love letter or note.

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Quotes:

Perhaps she just looked first into the bouquet, to see whether there was a billet-doux hidden among the flowers; but there was no letter.

-- William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

Young lovers in Victorian England, forbidden to express their affection in public and fearful that strict parents would intercept their billets-doux, sent coded messages through the personal columns in newspapers.

-- Susan Adams, "I've got a secret", Forbes, September 20, 1999

Origin:

In French, billet-doux means "sweet noteí" or "short note" (billet, "note" + doux, "sweet," from Latin dulcis).