An unnecessarily French word for a bit on a piece of furniture that folds down into a horizontal position.

Abattant is used in English as both an adjective and noun, coming from a (now largely archaic) conjugation of the French verb abattre, meaning 'to put horizontal'. It is used particularly to refer to furniture such as writing desks in which a panel folds down to make a work surface, as in secrétaire à abattant (or, in American, 'Abattant Secretary'). It is also, notably, used in French to refer to toilet lids, either as a stand-alone word or in the phrase "abattant wc" (the capitalization of WC being entirely a matter of taste in French, as far as I can find).

In less-fancy English, an abattant is generally referred to a drop-down leaf or a drop-front piece.

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