rideau

Meanings

1. A fortification or barrier such as a small earthen mound or ridge, a file of troops, etc.

1. A surname.
2. A river in eastern Ontario, Canada, a tributary of the Ottawa River.

Etymology

Borrowed from French rideau (“curtain”), from Middle French rideau, from Old French ridel (“plaited stuff; cloth curtain; blind”), from rider (“to plait; to wrinkle”), perhaps from Old High German ridil (“a headband; a ribbon”) or rīdan, wrīdan (“to wrinkle”) (related to English writhe), from Proto-Germanic *wriþilaz, from *wrīþaną (“to twist, wind, wrap”). See more at riddle (“curtain”), writhe.