The story
- Frankish · derived from*mauwa“pout, protruding lip”
- Old French · derived frommoe“grimace”
- French · borrowed frommoue
- English todaymoue
Borrowed from French moue, from Old French moe (“grimace”), from Frankish *mauwa (“pout, protruding lip”). Doublet of mow ("grimace").
Words from the same roots
Old Frenchmoe all →
mow
Frankish*mauwa all →
mow
First known use, by meaning
- from 19th c. A pout, especially as expressing mock-annoyance or flirtatiousness.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.