Make Your Point > Archived Issues > NUIT BLANCHE
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NUIT BLANCHE:
Say it "nwee BLONCH."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
Girls, you know you're quite pale if you wear a shade of makeup called Mont Blanc--French for "white mountain," the highest peak in the Alps:
Eh, the shade name is a tad exaggerated, right? We're not that white.
Blanc, French for "white" or "blank," shows up today's term, nuit blanche, literally "white night," as well as another we've checked out before: c____ blanche, literally "white paper," and meaning "permission to do anything you want, as if someone has given you a blank piece of paper and told you write down all your demands." Can you recall that one?
The nuit in nuit blanche is French for "night," and you'll recognize how it comes from the Latin for "night," noctem or nox, the source of words like nocturnal and equinox. If you're Harry Potter, you whisper Nox to turn off the light on your wand.
So, put nuit and blanche together and you get a white night: a sleepless night, a night of wakefulness, as if the lights are burning all through the night.
Speaking of white nights and night lights, see if you can recall a word from the Latin lucere, "light," that means "the act of studying or working late at night, or all through the night." It's lucu____ion. (Related: Lumos, the spell you whisper to turn on the light on your wand. If, again, you're Harry Potter.)
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
"Nuit blanche" is French for "white night." (Actually, "night white:" the nuit means "night" and the blanche means "white.")
In English, we use this term figuratively to mean "a sleepless night." In other words, a nuit blanche is a night spent awake, doing whatever you might do--worrying, thinking, tossing and turning, writing, studying, socializing, partying, romancing, binge-watching shows, etc.
And, Nuit Blanche is the name of a type of carnival or festival held at night.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech: noun, the countable kind: "she's still recovering from that nuit blanche."
Other forms: the plural is "nuits blanches," and you pronounce it the same as the singular.
how to use it:
Pick this fancy foreign term (instead of "wild night," "sleepless night," or "restless night") when you need to strike a tone of sophistication--either genuinely or sarcastically.
Talk about someone's nuit blanche, about someone enduring or recovering from a nuit blanche, about someone planning for a wild and crazy nuit blanche, etc.
If you like, you can use this term loosely like an adjective, and talk about nuit blanche thoughts, feelings, activities, decisions, etc. Here's Herman Wouk: "his nuit blanche fears."
examples:
"The weeks passed half real, not much pain, not much of anything, perhaps a little relief, mostly a nuit blanche. Paul went restlessly from place to place."
— D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, 1913
"We hadn't drunk enough to be hungover, but I was suffering from the effects of a nuit blanche as well as terminal heartbreak."
— Paulina Borsook, "Love Over the Wires," Wired, 1993
has this page helped you understand "nuit blanche"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "nuit blanche" without saying "night of zero sleep" or "stressful or crazy night."
try it out:
Here's a list of "great" movies (according to the Internet Movie Database) whose stories take place all in one night (or one day).
Not appearing on the list: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, a comedy that unfolds in one crazy nuit blanche and, admittedly, not a "great" movie. The two friends spend their nuit blanche dealing with car accidents, car theft, minor injuries, a raccoon, a hang glider, a cheetah, etc., etc., etc., until they finally reach the titular 24-hour hamburger place at dawn.
As I said, that movie didn't make the list. But does the list include a nuit blanche movie that you enjoyed? What happens during that nuit blanche? Talk about why the characters were up all night and what they were busy doing.
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
This month, our game is called "Fix the Grand Spell which was Cast by Short Words."
(Or, in monstrously inflated terms, the game is called "Rewrite the Extraordinary Incantation which was Executed by Monosyllabic Vocables.")
In each issue, I'll offer a familiar quote that I've heartlessly hypertrophied with polysyllabic transplants. You'll restore the quote to its original version, with each word just one syllable long.
That is to say, I'll share a fat, fake draft of a famed quote; you'll say the trim real one.
For example, if I say "Exploit an opportunity while the situation allows," then you say, "Make hay while the sun shines." If I say, "Durations remedy every laceration," then you say, "Time heals all wounds."
Try this today: "This, additionally, will discontinue."
Say that, but in words of one beat each.
Clues:
Where it's from: it's a familiar saying.
The year we first heard it: that's hard to say for sure, but no later than 1848.
review this word:
A. FULL BELLY and PEACE OF MIND.
B. DARK DAY and GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP.
C. REBEL YELL and REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE.
2. As _____ on Jean Valjean's nuit blanche, he resolves to sacrifice his own freedom to save an innocent man.
A. the sun sets
B. the dawn rises
C. the year closes
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Girls, you know you're quite pale if you wear a shade of makeup called Mont Blanc--French for "white mountain," the highest peak in the Alps:
"Nuit blanche" is French for "white night." (Actually, "night white:" the nuit means "night" and the blanche means "white.")
Part of speech: noun, the countable kind: "she's still recovering from that nuit blanche."
Pick this fancy foreign term (instead of "wild night," "sleepless night," or "restless night") when you need to strike a tone of sophistication--either genuinely or sarcastically.
"The weeks passed half real, not much pain, not much of anything, perhaps a little relief, mostly a nuit blanche. Paul went restlessly from place to place."
Explain the meaning of "nuit blanche" without saying "night of zero sleep" or "stressful or crazy night."
Here's a list of "great" movies (according to the Internet Movie Database) whose stories take place all in one night (or one day).
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
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