FRENCH: peau/cuir

[orpheus_samhain]

I've always thought that (une) peau/(un) cuir in French is like skin/leather in English. The first one referring to the living cover of a human/animal/plant body, the latter--to the product made of skin, that serves to make shoes, or handbags, or clothes

Comments

[iddewes]

I think it's peau when it still has fur on it and cuir when it's been worked on and has been skinned.

[orpheus_samhain]

Thank you. I haven't thought that hair may have anything with it :)

[sapphire2309]

In that context, I'd go for cuir over peau, because peau can also be used to refer to skin, like human skin, and I don't remember being taught that cuir=peau.

[orpheus_samhain]

Yes, I think it's safer, too :)

[garonne]

cuir can still be alive, e.g. cuir chevalu = scalp

And peau can be dead, e.g. peau de mouton = sheepskin, as in a sheepskin rug or something.

So note that skin in English is not necessarily referring to a living cover either! ;)

I'm not sure whether there's a 100% general rule in French (or in English!) but iddewes's rule seems a pretty good one. Peau de lapin, peau de loup, peau de mouton etc. (rabbitskin, wolfskin, sheepskin etc.) all still have fur on...

my dictionary says that cuir=peau when you talk about material for gloves, for example
gants en cuir are plain leather gloves, gants en peau are (I think!) the kind where the fur is still there and forms the inside of the gloves, and the non-furry, treated side forms the outside of the glove.

[iddewes]

Thanks! I am not a native speaker, was just commenting on how I had seen or heard the words used before. So it's good to know from a French person that I am not completely wrong ;)

[orpheus_samhain]

Thank you! So I've learnt something in English and French :) I knew what a sheepskin is, but somehow didn't notice that it contradicts my theory (not mine, really, but still).