banquette
UK[bæŋˈkɛt]US[bæŋˈkɛt]
n
a long, upholstered bench or seat, often built into a wall or recess.
n
a raised step or platform behind a rampart in a fortification, on which guns are mounted.
n
(southern us) a sidewalk or pavement.
Etymology
the word 'banquette' entered english in the 17th century from the french word of the same spelling, meaning a 'little bench'. the french term is a diminutive of 'banc', meaning 'bench', which itself derives from the old frankish 'bank', a common germanic word for a bench or ridge. this frankish root was absorbed into late latin as 'bancus', which is the direct ancestor of the french 'banc'. the journey from a simple germanic bench to the specific, often built-in seating of a 'banquette' illustrates a typical path of semantic specialization following a loan into english from french, a language that had previously borrowed and adapted the term from germanic invaders.
Analysis
this word is a loanword from french. it is not productively formed from smaller, recognizable english morphemes and therefore is not segmented.
Examples
they sat side by side on the leather banquette in the corner of the restaurant.
the soldiers took their positions on the banquette to man the fortress walls.
we strolled along the banquette under the shade of the live oaks.