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The short answer
Presque vu is the French label for essentially the same brink-of-retrieval feeling, but it's used more broadly — for the sense of an impending insight or realisation, not only a stuck word. Every tip-of-the-tongue state is a presque vu; not every presque vu involves a word.
Side by side
| Aspect | Tip-of-the-tongue | Presque vu |
|---|---|---|
| Target | A specific word | Any insight |
| Scope | Narrow | Broad |
| Studied since | 1966 | Sparsely |
| Feeling | Identical | Identical |
What each one means
The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is being certain you know a word, a name or a fact and feeling its arrival is imminent, while the thing itself refuses to come. In a genuine case you usually have partial access — the first letter, the number of syllables, where the stress falls.
Full definition of Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon →Presque vu is the feeling of standing right at the edge of a realisation — a name, a word, an insight — that never quite arrives.
Full definition of Presque Vu →