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Glite Dictionary
Rive Gauche

Rive Gauche

8.1
The south bank of the Seine in Paris where cafes, bookshops, artists, and students gather
  • proper noun
translation icon : Rive Gauche
  • Many famous writers and artists made the Rive Gauche their home in the twentieth century.

Examples

  • Walking along the Rive Gauche, you'll find charming cafes and bookshops.

  • The Rive Gauche is often associated with Paris’s bohemian lifestyle.

  • Many artists flock to Rive Gauche for inspiration.

  • The cafes on Rive Gauche are famous for their bohemian atmosphere.

  • Many famous writers and artists made the Rive Gauche their home in the twentieth century.

  • The Rive Gauche is often associated with Paris’s bohemian lifestyle.

  • Walking along the Rive Gauche, you'll find charming cafes and bookshops.

Synonyms

Left Bank
vsRive Gauche
2 5.8

An area of Paris on the southern side of the Seine known for artists, writers, and cafes

is the same place but stresses its historic artistic and student reputation

Surface Forms

Rive Gauche main

Morphology

Rive + Gauche

The phrase is the French literal equivalent of 'left bank' (rive = bank, gauche = left), so a learner who knows the constituent meanings can compositionally infer it refers to the left/southern bank of a river (in this case the Seine). The cultural/artistic associations with Paris's Rive Gauche are extra pragmatic knowledge, but the basic locative meaning is directly derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Rive Gauche comes from French: Rive means 'bank' and Gauche means 'left', so it literally means 'left bank'. Because many artists, writers and students lived on that south side of the Seine, the Rive Gauche became known for cafés and bookshops, so today it means the south side of Paris famous for art and student life.