rond-de-cuir

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rond-de-cuir

/ɹɒ̃ də ˈkwɪə/ UK
/ɹɔn də ˈkwɪɹ/ US

Where it comes from

From French rond-de-cuir.

noun ronds-de-cuir

A French bureaucrat or functionary; an office worker. In 1893, Georges Courteline immortalised France's petty bureaucrats in a satirical novel called Messieurs les Ronds-de-Cuir, after the leather cushions that civil servants sat on. The "ronds-de-cuir" are still ridiculed and detested. Like Courteline's bureaucrats, the tormentors of the préfecture de
colloquial, derogatory A pen-pusher.

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MLA

"rond-de-cuir." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/rond-de-cuir. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

rond-de-cuir. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/rond-de-cuir

Chicago

"rond-de-cuir." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/rond-de-cuir.

BibTeX

@misc{rond_de_cuir_2026,
  title = {rond-de-cuir},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/rond-de-cuir},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}