ébauche

draft (early version of a written work)

From early modern French esbauche (“the first form of a work of art, a proto-type”), deverbal of Middle French esbaucher (“to rough-hew, frame”), alteration (due to Middle French bauche (“beam, wooden crosspiece”)) of Old French esbosquier, esboskier (“to rough-hew beams”), from es- (“out”) + bosc (“wood, firewood”), from Frankish *busk (“wood, firewood”), from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“wood, thicket”). Cognate with Old French esbochier (“to prune grapes”), French bois (“wood”), bau (“crossbeam”)