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The list for an order and its aftermath. Near the end of it is une bonne affaire, a bargain — and « affair » in English can mean almost none of what l’affaire means. English has it for a matter or a business (« a family affair », « foreign affairs »), for an event (« the evening was a grand affair ») and for a liaison, which is the sense most people reach for first. It never means a purchase. French l’affaire runs from the deal — c’est une affaire ! is what somebody says about a price — through business in general, les affaires, to a legal case and a scandal, l’affaire Dreyfus. The thread is « something to be done », from à faire, literally « to do ». So the word is built out of two French words a beginner already has, and the English cognate is the one thing that will not help.