Walloon
/wɒˈluːn
/noun
1A member of a people who speak a French dialect and live in southern and eastern Belgium and neighbouring parts of France. Compare with Fleming.But the night flights that are causing most complaints about noise levels are also affecting the Walloons - the French speaking Belgians....
- The Walloons, who live in Belgium's southern provinces, are the country's French-speaking inhabitants.
- Because of their proximity to France, Walloons hold the French language in high regard, using it as the standard for their own.
2 [mass noun] The French dialect spoken by the Walloons.Gray chose 2,449 words from 87 languages, including English, Lithuanian, Gujarati, Romany, Walloon, Breton, Hindi and Pennsylvania Dutch and began a series of comparisons to build up a pattern of descent....
- Those Belgians from the south speak Walloon, which is a French patois derived from Latin.
adjective
Of or concerning the Walloons or their language.Distinctive Flemish and Walloon parties, fighting for language rights and more autonomy, if not outright independence, mobilized support....
- Ryanair has rolled back on its refusal to repay the €4m it received in subsidies from the Walloon government as an incentive to fly into Charleroi airport.
- The amount due to be returned by the airline will not be arrived at until the Commission has fully examined the full extent of the deal conceded by the Walloon state to the airline.
Origin
From French Wallon, from medieval Latin Wallo(n-), from the same Germanic origin as Welsh.