nounadjective

le roman

novel

C'est un livre qui raconte une histoire inventée avec des personnages et des aventures.

Definition & meaning

The word "roman" in French primarily has two meanings:

As a masculine noun, it refers to a novel. This is a long prose narrative that describes fictional characters and events, usually in the form of a sequential story. It is the most common term for this literary genre in French.
As an adjective, it refers to the Romanesque style. This describes a specific period of medieval architecture and art (roughly from the 10th to the 12th century) characterized by semi-circular arches, thick walls, and sturdy pillars.

Grammar & Word origin

The noun is masculine: le roman. The plural form is "romans". The adjective follows gender agreement: "roman" for masculine (e.g., un art roman) and "romane" for feminine (e.g., une église romane).

The word originates from the Old French term "romanz" or "romans", which was derived from the Vulgar Latin adverb "romanice", meaning "in the Roman tongue" (vernacular). Initially, it referred to texts written in the common language of the people (early French) rather than in classical Latin. Over time, it came to specifically represent the narrative stories written in these languages, eventually evolving into the modern definition of a novel.