What does arriere mean?
Arriere is a French word meaning 'behind' or 'at the rear' that has entered English only in fossilised borrowings rather than as an independent term. Its most familiar appearances are 'arriere-garde', a military term for the troops protecting the rear of a retreating or advancing force, and 'arriere-pensee', a noun denoting an ulterior or unspoken motive lurking behind what someone actually says. A third borrowing, 'arriere-ban', referred historically to a feudal summons of all able-bodied vassals to military service. Because these phrases retain their French spelling and pronunciation, they carry a distinctly literary or scholarly register: writers reach for them to evoke precision, history, or a certain Continental elegance. For everyday purposes English substitutes native equivalents — 'rearguard' for the military sense and 'ulterior motive' for the psychological one — so encountering 'arriere' today usually signals either historical writing or deliberate stylistic flourish.
nounA rare English borrowing of the French word for 'rear' or 'behind', used almost exclusively as the first element in fixed borrowings such as 'arriere-garde' (rearguard) and 'arriere-pensee' (a hidden or ulterior thought). It does not function as an independent word in ordinary modern English.
- The rear or back part (only within fixed French borrowings such as arriere-garde)
- That which lies behind or is concealed (as in arriere-pensee, an ulterior motive)
"The general stationed his arriere-garde along the ridge to cover the retreat."
"The army's arriere-garde held the pass until the main force had escaped."
"Her cheerful reply carried an unmistakable arriere-pensee that no one at the table missed."
English never fully adopted 'arriere' on its own — but it smuggled it in through military and psychological borrowings like 'arriere-garde' and 'arriere-pensee', where it still whispers 'behind' from its French homeland.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of arriere
Arriere comes directly from Old French 'arriere' (modern French 'arrière'), meaning 'behind' or 'backward', which itself derives from the Latin adverbial phrase 'ad retro', literally 'to the back'. English adopted it during the medieval and early modern periods exclusively inside compound borrowings — most notably 'arriere-ban' (a feudal levy), 'arriere-garde' (the rearguard of an army), and later 'arriere-pensee' (an ulterior thought) — rather than as a standalone word. Its Latin root also underlies related Romance forms such as Italian 'dietro' and Spanish 'tras', though those developed along separate paths.
How arriere is actually used
Arriere is not used as a free-standing word in modern English; it appears only as the first element of established loan phrases, usually italicised or treated as foreignisms. In such phrases it retains its French sense of 'behind' or 'rear'. Speakers should prefer standard English equivalents ('rearguard', 'ulterior motive') except when deliberately invoking the French flavour of the original.
Easily confused with arriere
'Arbitrary' means based on random choice or personal whim, whereas 'arriere' refers to the rear or to hidden thoughts behind what is expressed.
'Rear' is the standard native English word for the back part of something, while 'arriere' survives only in French-derived fixed phrases.