Propre

Propre is a French adjective with several related meanings centered on cleanliness, ownership, and suitability. It most commonly means clean or neat, as in une pièce propre (a clean room) or des vêtements propres (clean clothes). It can also describe something belonging to or produced by someone, such as ma propre voiture (my own car), where propre emphasizes possession.

In addition, propre can mean proper or appropriate in a given context, as in c’est propre à la culture française (that is typical of French culture). The expression à proprement parler is used to mean “strictly speaking” or “in the narrow sense,” while à proprement parler is the adverbial form proverbially linking cleanliness or accuracy to the statement.

Grammatical notes: Propre agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies. It is typically placed after the noun when describing physical cleanliness or inherent quality (une voiture propre), but it can appear before the noun to stress possession or emphasis (ma propre voiture). The plural form is propres for both masculine and feminine (des objets propres).

Etymology: Propre derives from Latin proprius “one’s own, personal, proper,” passing into Old French and then modern French. It is cognate with the English word proper but has broader usage in French, covering both cleanliness and the sense of belonging or suitability.

See also: related terms such as propre usage in mathematics or philosophy, where the phrase propre du sujet or ce qui est propre à une espèce can denote characteristic features. Propre should not be confused with the English “proper,” though they share a common root.