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terre

earth, ground, land

noun TEHR Common

Also means

soil, dirt

Usage Note

Terre covers the planet Earth (la Terre), the ground underfoot, soil, and land as territory. Par terre means 'on the ground' or 'on the floor' (a common stumbling block: French uses par terre, not sur le sol, in casual speech). La terre ferme means dry land, as opposed to being at sea.

Examples

"L'enfant est tombé par terre."

Natural Translation

The child fell on the ground.

Literal Translation

The child fell by earth.

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