sceau

Inherited from Old French seel (whence also English seal), from Vulgar Latin *segellum, from Latin sigillum. The spelling with sc- was introduced in Middle French (with -c- loosely representing the Latin -g-) in order to distinguish from unrelated seau (“bucket”).

• IPA^(key): /so/

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -so, -o
• Homophones: saut, sauts, sceaux, seau, seaux (general), sot, sots (except regionally)

sceau m (plural sceaux)

1. seal (pattern; design)

• sceau de Salomon

• sceller

• → Norman: sceau

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

• cause, causé, sauce

From Old French seel. The change in spelling from ⟨seau⟩ to ⟨sceau⟩ is unexplained, although it may be to disambiguate with seau (“bucket”).^[1]

sceau m (plural sceaulx)

1. seal (a stamp in wax to seal a letter)

• French: sceau
  • → Norman: sceau

• sceau on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Borrowed from French sceau.

sceau m (plural sceaus)

1. (Guernsey) seal

• Jean des sceaus (“ring finger”)