It derives from the name of the hero of Comtesse d'Aulnoy's L'Oiseau Bleu . Eventually it was incorporated into English fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and has come to denote the kind of guy that girls want to marry; what phrase is it?

---

Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics (meaning), linguistics, neologism, idiom, word origin, syntax, dialect, lexicon (vocabulary), diction, pidgin, synonym, antonym, homonym, cant, argot, lingo, and redundancy.



The critically-acclaimed board game MooT consists of tough questions about the nuances of the English language.

To join our mailing list and get free brain-twisting MooT questions sent to you irregularly, enter your email address and then press submit.

E-Mail address:

---

Answer: Prince Charming

The phrase Prince Charming first appears in English writing in 1850. It derives from the French Roi Charmant , name of the hero of Comtesse d'Aulnoy's "L'Oiseau Bleu" (1697).

Copyright 1998-2006 Blair Arts Ltd. All rights reserved.