Did you know?
In the years before the French Revolution, a “lettre de cachet” was a
letter, signed by both the French king and another officer, that was
used to authorize a person’s imprisonment. Documents such as these
were usually made official by being marked with a seal pressed into
soft wax. This seal was known in French as a “cachet.” This word
derived from the Middle French verb “cacher,” meaning “to press” or
“to hide.” The “seal” sense of “cachet” has been used in English since
the mid-17th century, and in the 19th century it acquired its extended
sense, that of a distinguishing mark that is used to identify
something as being prestigious.
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