boche

The first attestation of this term dates back to the 19th century in the phrase 'tête de boche' designating the head (see 'caboche'). It is at the end of the 19th century that 'boche' took on the meaning of 'German', first in the slang of French soldiers. The appearance of this meaning can be explained by a specialization of 'tête de boche', either by alteration of the word 'alboche' ('German') which would come from German with the slang suffix '-boche' or with 'boche' from 'tête de boche', by (aphesis).