Etymology

lanterne rouge

Today it means: The competitor in last place in a competition; the person or entity at the bottom of a ranking Full definition →

French lanterne rouge
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The story

  1. French · borrowed fromlanterne rouge
  2. English todaylanterne rouge

From French lanterne rouge (literally “red lantern”), referring to the red lantern at the rear of a train.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.