noyau

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French noyau.

Noun

noyau (plural noyaus)

1. A French liqueur made at Poissy in north central France from brandy and flavoured with almonds and the pits of apricots since the early nineteenth century.
2. (ethology) A social structure where individual animals live alone, but each male's territory overlaps with those of several females.
   • 1966 August 26, Richard Ardrey, "Strongest Bond of All - The Space We Own" in LIFE, page 58:

     Borders are violated by hungering males and famished females, and the ordered animosities of the noyau give way to a saturnalia of sexual adventure.

   • 1999, Ronald M. Nowak, Walker's Primates of the World, JHU Press →ISBN, page 27

     The orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) also exhibits the noyau system and appears to be the only diurnal primate with a largely solitary lifestyle.

   • 2000, Sergio M. Pellis & Andrew N. Iwaniuk, "Adult-Adult Play in Primates: Comparative Analyses of Its Origin, Distribution and Evolution", Ethology 106, page 1089:

     This "noyau" pattern is found among various nocturnal strepsirrhines.

References

• http://www.noyaudepoissy.com/pages/histoire.htm

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French

Etymology

From Late Latin nucālis, from Latin nux.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nwa.jo/

• audio (CA)

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• Audio

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Noun

noyau m (plural noyaux)

1. stone (of a fruit)
2. group (of artists etc.); cell (of terrorists etc.)
3. (geology) core
4. (biology, physics) nucleus
5. (computing) kernel
6. (phonetics, phonology) nucleus of a syllable

   Antonyms: attaque, coda

Derived terms

• antinoyau
• noyautage
• noyauter

Related terms

• noix

Further reading

• “noyau” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).