''Beur'' (or alternatively, ''Rebeu'') is a colloquial term, sometimes considered pejorative, in French to designate European-born people whose parents or grandparents are immigrants from the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

. The equivalent term for a female beur is a beurette. The term ''rebeu'' is neither applicable to females nor does it have a female version.

Use

The word beur was coined using

verlan () is a type of argot in the French language, featuring inversion of syllables in a word, and is common in slang and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of transposing syllables of individual words to create slang words. The wor ...

for the word ''arabe'', which means Arabic or Arab in French. Since the late 1990s, many young people have used the twice-

ised term ''rebeu'' as a synonym. This term is now the dominant term used by the younger generations (under 30). The word ''beurette'', the female version of ''beur'', is created by adding the -ette female suffix in French. In French many slang words are created by simply reversing the word in terms of spelling and then reading it out. Because of French grammar rules, the new word is usually completely different from the result of reversing the word phonetically. The word ''

beurgeois A beurgeois is a middle-class (and upwards) Muslim born in a working-class area of France to parents of Maghrebi origin, who continues to proclaim their roots and who is aged between 30 and 40 years old with a successful professional career, a hig ...

'' is derived from a combination of the words ''beur'' and ''

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

''. The term is mostly used in French-speaking European countries ― France, Belgium, Monaco, Luxembourg and Switzerland ― as well as in the

. Due to cultural integration between such peoples across Europe, the term is now popular in other parts of Europe with a large Maghrebi community, such as the UK, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy. Since 1992, the BEUR.FM radio station has broadcast nationwide (106.7 FM in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

).BEUR.FM
Accessed 2012-01-11 Image:Zinedine Zidane 2008.jpg, A beur ( kabyle) sportsman :

Zinédine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...

. Image:Rachid Taha.jpg, A beur rockstar :

Rachid Taha Rachid Taha ( ar, رشيد طه, Latn, ar, Rashīd Ṭāhā, ; 18 September 1958 – 12 September 2018) was an Algerian singer and activist based in France described as "sonically adventurous". His music was influenced by many different styles i ...

. Image:Leïla Bekhti Cannes 2014 2.jpg, A beur actress :

Leïla Bekhti Yasmine Leïla Bekhti (born 6 March 1984) is a French film and television actress. She is best known for her roles in '' Tout ce qui brille'' (2007) and, in 2006, ''Paris, je t'aime'' and ''Sheitan''. Early life Bekhti was born in 1984 in Issy-l ...

. Image:Ramzy Bedia Cannes 2012.jpg, A beur humorist :

Ramzy Bedia Ramzy Habib El Haq Bedia ( ar, رمزي حبيب إل حق بيديا ; born March 10, 1972) is a French actor, screenwriter and film director of Algerian descent. He started his career as a comedian in 1994 after meeting Eric Judor with whom ...

. Image:Rachida dati.jpg, A beur politician :

Rachida Dati Rachida Dati (; ar, رشيدة داتي, link=no; born 27 November 1965) is a French politician who served as Member of the European Parliament, representing Île-de-France. Prior to her election, she held the cabinet post of Keeper of the Sea ...

. Image:Ali Baddou César 2016.jpg, A beur intellectual :

Ali Baddou ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

References

External links

La Beurgeoisie
The French website for successful "Beurs". {{Authority control Society of France French words and phrases French people of Arab descent Arabs in France Berbers in France

Use

See also

References

Further reading

External links