cor·don sa·ni·taire 
(kôr-dôɴ′ sä-nē-târ)
(kôr-dôɴ′ sä-nē-târ)n. pl. cor·dons sa·ni·taires (kôr-dôɴ′ sä-nē-târ)
1. A barrier designed to prevent a disease or other undesirable condition from spreading.
2. A chain of buffer states organized around a ideologically dangerous or potentially hostile nation.
[French, quarantine line : cordon, line + sanitaire, sanitary.]