What’s the plural of “tableau”?
The plural of tableau is tableaux or tableaus.
What’s the singular of tableau?
Tableau is singular.
What does the word tableau mean?
Tableau is defined in the dictionary as:
“A picture, as of a scene.” Tableau is also understood as “a picturesque grouping of persons or objects; a striking scene.”
Other French nouns in English
| singular | plural |
| bureau | bureaux or bureaus |
| château | châteaux or chateaus |
| beau | beaux or beaus |
| tableau | tableaux or tableaus |
“Tableau”, used in sentences
1. The houses are grouped together in a charming tableau.
2. The tableau of the troops crossing the river is one of the most famous paintings in the world.
3. John Doyle’s Assassins, now playing off-Broadway at the Classic Stage Company, has his assassins form their final tableau in front of footage from the January 6 Capitol riot.
4. Dean gave the tableau a wide berth as he continued back to Bird Song, whistling the entire trip.
5. They admired the tableau of the Nativity.
“Tableaus”/”tableaux”, used in sentences
1. Its overture and eight historic tableaux have come down in disarray.
2. It’s difficult to see tableaux in a sentence.
3. The tiny tableaus chronicling the boys’ flight fittingly range from extraordinarily realistic to fantastical, alternately portraying the vastness and claustrophobic aspects of their ordeal.
4. As in the Goya sequence, these tableaux are not fixed.
5. His direction was daringly restrained, almost like a series of tableaux.
Origin of the word tableau
From etymology online on tableau (n.):
1690s, “a picturesque or graphic description or picture,” from French tableau “picture, painting” (12c.), from Old French table “slab, writing tablet”.
What’s the difference between they’re, their, and there?
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