... the forms l' and d' occur when the word following them starts with a vowel.
Their original forms are "le/la" and "de". The former is the definite article (masculine/feminine) and the latter is the proposition "of", meaning in such cases "made of".
Examples: (a) Attention ! Ces fleurs ont beaucoup d'épis = Be careful! These flowers have a lot of spikes; (b) Il est mignon avec cet épi de cheveux sur son front = He's cute with that tuft of hair on his forehead
Épi also has some less common meanings:
breakwater
corn cob
cowlick, quiff
ear (of corn, wheat)
herringbone (pattern)
part(ing) of a horse's mane
(garé) en épi - (parked) diagonally
Hence, from the way it's usually shaped, pain d'epi means bread shaped like a wheat stalk.
http://theculinarychronicles.com/2011/03/28/pain-d%E2%80%99epi-wheat-stalk-bread/
Pain d'epi is literally bread of wheat stalk, but l'epi is the wheat stalk.
thanks, I am opening a bakery in a few months with this bread as the signature so I better have the spelling correct
... the forms l' and d' occur when the word following them starts with a vowel.
Their original forms are "le/la" and "de". The former is the definite article (masculine/feminine) and the latter is the proposition "of", meaning in such cases "made of".
On the other hand, from http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/g/epi.htm, we get
un épi (by Laura K. Lawless, About.com Guide) = spike, tuft
Examples: (a) Attention ! Ces fleurs ont beaucoup d'épis = Be careful! These flowers have a lot of spikes; (b)
Il est mignon avec cet épi de cheveux sur son front = He's cute with that tuft of hair on his forehead
Épi also has some less common meanings:
Hence, from the way it's usually shaped, pain d'epi means bread shaped like a wheat stalk.
Take care!
thanks