allongée

Allongée is the feminine form of the French adjective allongé, used to describe something that is elongated, stretched, or extended. It functions as an attribute or a predicate, agreeing in gender and number with the noun it modifies. The masculine form is allongé and the plural forms are allongés (masculine) and allongées (feminine).

In everyday French, allongée describes physical shapes or proportions, as in une robe allongée (a long, slender dress), un corps allongé (an elongated body), or une voiture allongée (an extended car body). The term is common in architecture, product design, and botany, where it characterizes elongated forms such as une feuille allongée (an elongated leaf) or un meuble allongé (an elongated piece of furniture).

In biology and medicine, allongée is frequently used to describe orientation or morphology. For example, la patiente est allongée sur le lit means the patient is lying down. In anatomy, un segment allongé may refer to a stretched body part, and in zoology to describe an animal with a linear, stretched body plan.

In linguistics and phonetics, allongée can describe a long vowel or a vowel with extended duration, by analogy with other adjectival usages. In music or other arts, the idea of lengthening or prolonging a form can also be conveyed with the concept of allongée or its related terms.

Etymology traces allongée to allonger, meaning to lengthen. It is used across contexts to denote increased length or stretched form, always agreeing with the noun it describes.