goutte

Goutte is a French noun that denotes a small drop of liquid, a single bead that forms at a surface or falls from it. It can refer to a droplet of any liquid, such as water, oil, or blood, and appears in common phrases like goutte d'eau (water drop) or goutte de sang. The word is also used in more specialized terms to describe tiny quantities or particles of liquid, often in scientific or technical contexts.

Etymology and usage context: goutte comes from Old French goutte, itself from Latin gutta, meaning “drop.” In everyday language, the term is flexible and can describe a literal droplet or serve as a unit of a small amount in phrases that specify dosage or measurement. The concept of a drop is central to many French expressions and to tools and methods that dispense liquid in small amounts.

Common applications: In medicine and pharmacy, “X gouttes” is a traditional way to specify a dosage of liquid medications, though the exact volume of a drop varies with the liquid and the dispensing device. In agriculture, goutte à goutte refers to drip irrigation, a method that delivers water to plants one drop at a time. In meteorology and everyday speech, goutte d'eau or goutte de pluie describes a water droplet from a surface or the atmosphere. In science, the related term gouttelettes is used to describe small aerosol droplets studied in fields such as aerosol physics and infectious disease research.

Overall, goutte centers on the imagery and measurement of a small liquid particle, spanning everyday language, medicine, agriculture, and science.