canicule

Borrowed from French canicule, from Latin. Doublet of chenille.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkanɪkjuːl/

canicule (plural canicules)

1. (archaic) Synonym of dog days.
   • 1846, Nathaniel Armstrong Wells, The Picturesque Antiquities of Spain‎^[1]:

     In fact, the incompatibility of your nature, and that of the Spanish climate, must ever be present to me, who, during the vivifying heats of the late very bearable canicule, in your French château […]

Borrowed from Latin Canicula and canicula. From the ancient association of Canicule (“Sirius, Dog Star”) with late summer heat. Doublet of chenille.

• IPA^(key): /ka.ni.kyl/

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canicule f (plural canicules)

1. the dog days of late summer
2. (by extension, modern usage) synonym of vague de chaleur (any heat wave or hot spell, regardless of the date)
   • 2025 July 1, Jonathan Parienté, “Les fortes chaleurs imposent une vigilance particulière sur les trains et l’infrastructure ferroviaire”, in Le Monde‎^[2]:

     Alors que les épisodes de canicule se multiplient, les risques s’amplifient pour les trains, en particulier à cause de la dilatation des caténaires et des rails.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• caniculaire

• chien
• cagnard

• “canicule”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): [kaˈnikule]

canicule f

1. inflection of caniculă:
   1. indefinite plural
   2. indefinite genitive/dative singular