Feuille

Feuille is a French noun that broadly designates a leaf, whether of a plant or of paper. In everyday use, it covers both the botanical sense (the leaf of a plant) and the sheet-sense (a page or sheet of material such as paper or metal). The standard plural is feuilles. The word derives from Latin folium via Old French.

Botanical sense: in biology, a feuille comprises the lamina, often with a stalk called the petiole at its base. Leaves vary widely in shape, size, and arrangement. Terms used to describe leaves include simple versus compound, and margins such as entire, serrate, or lobed. Leaves perform photosynthesis, regulate transpiration, and can be deciduous or evergreen.

Publishing and printing sense: when referring to print or manuscripts, une feuille means a sheet or page. In historical newspapers, a feuille sometimes designated a single issue or a serialized section, while feuilleton denotes a narrative feature published in installments.

Culinary and decorative senses: in cooking and pastry, feuille commonly refers to a thin sheet of dough, such as feuille de brick, used to wrap or layer foods; in decorative arts, feuilles and foliage motifs refer to stylized leaf shapes used in design and heraldry.