noun, feminine/tɔʁ.ty/plural: tortues
turtle or tortoise
Related: à pas de tortue, écaille de tortue
Inherited from Middle French tortue, borrowed from Old Occitan tortuga, tartuga, from Late Latin tartarūcha, feminine form of tartarūchus, a mythological spirit of Greek origin, from Ancient Greek ταρταροῦχος (tartaroûkhos, “resident or native of Tartarus”), from Τάρταρος (Tártaros). Cf. also Medieval Latin tortuca. Compare Spanish tortuga, Italian tartaruga.