The presence of an accent is entirely an editorial decision, and consequently the word is only really detectable in its feminine form. However, whereas nostre is generally used in a prenominal position, nostré functions as an adjective and appears postnominally.

The primary meaning of this word is ‘of, belonging to us’ (arguably attested in the Foedera attestation), which then implied ‘home-grown’ or ‘produced locally (apparently not attested in Anglo-Norman). In these two thirteenth-century attestations from Ross ants, the sense has shifted further to ‘of a familiar and excellent quality’, losing its sense of ‘belonging to us’. A similar development is found in Continental French (cf. DMF).