Meanings
- By air mail.
I’ve written you before but I forgot to send it par avion and it probably won’t get there before Christmas.
1946 August 19, John Cheever, “[Letter to Don and Katrina Ettlinger]”, in The Letters of John Cheever, published 1989, →ISBN, page 1192 more examples
He was sent to Vietnam to kill people. Signed up for a stupor-second tour when the loved one repudiated him Par Avion.
2006, J. G. Hayes, A Map of the Harbor Islands, →ISBN, page 25I have vague memories of her writing on blue airmail stationery—delicate sheets that tuck into themselves—ready to be sealed, stamped, and sent par avion.
2021, Angela Mi Young Hur, Foklorn, →ISBN
Origin
- Frenchpar avion“by plane”
- Englishpar avion
Borrowed from French par avion (“by plane”), a phrase often printed or stamped on air mail envelopes.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
par avion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/par%20avion
“par avion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/par%20avion. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “par avion,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/par%20avion.
Source: par avion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.