Une blague créative avec des clés coincées

What does “coincé” mean in French?

Coincé is whatever is stuck fast: keys set into plaster, a zip that will not move, je suis coincé dans les embouteillages for being trapped in traffic. It comes from coin, which is not only a corner but the older word for a wedge — coincer is to wedge something so it cannot shift. Said of a person, il est un peu coincé means stiff, inhibited, unable to loosen up.

The middle sense between the two is being cornered in an argument: là, tu m’as coincé is “you’ve got me there,” no room left to move. That wedge sense of coin goes back to Latin cuneus, the tool for splitting wood — the same root behind cunéiforme, the wedge-shaped writing.