Meaning
Calmness and composure in a dangerous, difficult, or embarrassing situation; coolness under pressure. The phrase is approving in tone, suggesting disciplined self-control rather than mere indifference, and reads as somewhat formal or literary next to plain 'composure'. In French it is an everyday word for calm, but English keeps it as a marked, elegant borrowing with a faintly heroic colour. Literary and approving; can sound affected if dropped into casual conversation. Regional use: General English (borrowed from French).
Origin
French for 'cold blood': sang 'blood' (from Latin sanguis) plus froid 'cold' (from Latin frigidus). French had long used sang-froid for coolness of mind, the same metaphor behind English 'cold-blooded'. The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest evidence for the phrase in English is from 1750, in a letter by Philip Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield, whose celebrated correspondence did much to naturalise French expressions in polite 18th-century English. It has remained a staple of literary English for composed daring ever since.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Usage Examples
- The pilot's sang-froid during the engine failure saved everyone on board.
- She fielded the hostile questions with remarkable sang-froid.
- His sang-froid on stage, even when the microphone cut out, impressed the director.