Géant

Géant, meaning "giant" in French, is used as both a noun and an adjective. As a noun, un géant refers to a person of enormous size or a legendary being; as an adjective, géant describes something very large. The feminine forms are géante (adj) and géante (noun), and the plural forms are géants (m) and géantes (f).

Etymology: The word comes from Old French geant, from Latin gigans or gigant-, ultimately from Greek gigas (giant). The modern form with the acute accent reflects phonetic change in French.

In mythology and folklore, giants appear across cultures. In Greek mythology the Gigantes were a race of enormous beings who opposed the Olympian gods. In later European legend, giants feature in many tales as powerful, sometimes noble, figures.

In science, géant is used in astronomy and planetary science. An étoile géante, or giant star, is larger and more luminous than a dwarf star, with red giants as a notable subclass. A planète géante refers to a large planet, typically a gas giant.

In modern usage, Géant appears in branding and culture. Géant Casino is a French hypermarket brand; in sports and media, les Géants is a common name for teams and fictional giants. The term also serves as a general descriptor in contexts ranging from architecture to marketing for notably large-scale objects or entities.