Tordu

Tordu is a French adjective and past participle of the verb tordre, literally meaning "twisted" or "wrenched". Its etymology traces back through Old French to Latin tortus, reflecting senses of bending, turning, or distorting.

In literal use, tordu describes physical shapes that are bent, contorted, or spiraled—applied to objects, body positions, or natural forms. Figuratively, it conveys meanings such as perverse, warped, or perversely clever; for example, être tordu d’esprit refers to having a warped or twisted sense of humor or reasoning. The adjective appears in many idiomatic expressions and compounds, such as jeu tordu (a spiteful or unfair game) or sourire tordu (a crooked or ironic smile).

Tordu is morphologically regular, agreeing in gender and number with the noun it modifies (tordu, tordue, tordus, tordues). As a past participle it can form passive constructions or perfect tenses with avoir or être where appropriate.

Beyond everyday language, tordu is used in literary and artistic criticism to describe stylistic distortion, in design and architecture to characterize nonorthogonal forms, and in technical contexts to describe twisted fibers, metalwork, or structural elements. It also functions as a surname or place-name element in francophone regions, though such uses are relatively uncommon.