Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to:
*Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066
* Anglo-Norman language
**Anglo-Norman literature
* Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...
spoken by the
upper class
Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...
es in England for several hundred years after the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...
, before the language settled into what became
Modern English. English
words of French origin, such as ''art'', ''competition'', ''force'', ''machine'', and ''table'' are pronounced according to
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
rules of
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
, rather than
French, and are commonly used by English speakers without any consciousness of their French origin.
This article, on the other hand, covers French words and phrases that have entered the English lexicon without ever losing their character as Gallicisms: they remain unmistakably "French" to an English speaker. They are most common in written English, where they retain French
diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
s and are usually printed in italics. In spoken English, at least some attempt is generally made to pronounce them as they would sound in French; an entirely English pronunciation is regarded as a
solecism
A solecism is a phrase that transgresses the rules of grammar. The term is often used in the context of linguistic prescription; it also occurs descriptively in the context of a lack of idiomaticness.
Etymology
The word originally was used by ...
.
Some of them were
never "good French", in the sense of being grammatical, idiomatic French usage. Some others were once normal French but have become very old-fashioned, or have acquired different meanings and connotations in the original language, to the extent that they would not be understood (either at all, or in the intended sense) by a native French speaker.
Used in English and French
A
;
à la
Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engli ...
: short for (
ellipsis
The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...
of) ''à la manière de''; in the manner of/in the style of
;
à la carte
In restaurants, ''à la carte'' (; )) is the practice of ordering individual dishes from a menu in a restaurant, as opposed to ''table d'hôte'', where a set menu is offered. It is an early 19th century loan from French meaning "according t ...
: lit. "on the card, i.e. menu"; In restaurants it refers to ordering individual dishes "à la carte" rather than a fixed-price meal "menu". In America "à la Carte Menu" can be found, an
oxymoron
An oxymoron (usual plural oxymorons, more rarely oxymora) is a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposing meanings within a word or phrase that creates an ostensible self-contradiction. An oxymoron can be used as a rhetorical devi ...
and a
pleonasm
Pleonasm (; , ) is redundancy in linguistic expression, such as "black darkness" or "burning fire". It is a manifestation of tautology by traditional rhetorical criteria and might be considered a fault of style. Pleonasm may also be used for em ...
.
;
à propos
À, à ( a-grave) is a letter of the Catalan, Emilian-Romagnol, French, Galician, Italian, Maltese, Occitan, Portuguese, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Vietnamese, and Welsh languages consisting of the letter A of the ISO basic Latin alpha ...
: regarding/concerning (the correct French syntax is ''à propos
de'')
;
aide-de-camp: lit. "camp helper"; A military officer who serves as an adjutant to a higher-ranking officer, prince or other high political dignitary.
;
aide-mémoire
Aide-mémoire (, "memory aid") is a French loanword meaning "a memory-aid; a reminder or memorandum, especially a book or document serving this purpose".
In international relations, an aide-mémoire is a proposed agreement or negotiating text c ...
: lit. "memory aid"; an object or memorandum to assist in remembrance, or a diplomatic paper proposing the major points of discussion
;
amour propre
''Amour-propre'' (; ) is a French term that can be variously translated as "self-love", "self-esteem", or "vanity". In philosophy, it is a term used by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who contrasts it with another kind of self-love which he calls ''amour ...
: "Self-love", Self-respect.
;
amuse-bouche
An ''amuse-bouche'' (; ) or ''amuse-gueule'' (, ; ) is a single, bite-sized'' hors d'œuvre''. Amuse-bouches are different from appetizers in that they are not ordered from a menu by patrons but are served free and according to the chef's selec ...
or amuse-gueule: lit. "mouth-amuser"; a single, bite-sized
hors d'œuvre. In France, the exact expression used is ''amuse-gueule'', ''gueule'' being slang for mouth (''gueule'' is the mouth of a carnivorous animal; when used to describe the mouth of a human, it is vulgarakin to "gob" although the expression in itself is not vulgar). The expression refers to a small mouthful of food, served at the discretion of the chef before a meal as an hors d'oeuvre or between main courses.
;
ancien régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
{{disambig ...
: a sociopolitical or other system that no longer exists, an allusion to pre-revolutionary France (used with capital letters in French with this meaning:
Ancien Régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
{{disambig ...
)
;
aperçu: preview; a first impression; initial insight.
;
apéritif or aperitif: lit. "
rink
Rink may refer to:
* Ice rink, a surface of ice used for ice skating
** Figure skating rink, an ice rink designed for figure skating
** Ice hockey rink, an ice rink designed for ice hockey
** Speed skating rink, an ice rink designed for speed ska ...
opening the appetite", a before-meal drink. In colloquial French, ''un apéritif'' is usually shortened to ''un apéro''.
; appellation contrôlée: supervised use of a name. For the conventional use of the term, see
Appellation d'origine contrôlée
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...
; appetence: 1. A natural craving or desire 2. An attraction or affinity; From French word "Appétence", derived from "Appétit" (Appetite). In French, belongs to high-level language.
;
après moi, le déluge
"" (; ) is a French expression attributed to King Louis XV of France, or in the form "" (; ) to Madame de Pompadour, his favourite. It is generally regarded as a nihilistic expression of indifference to whatever happens after one is gone, thou ...
: lit. "After me, the
deluge
A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood.
The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the Biblical book of Genesis.
Deluge may also refer to:
History
*Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Comm ...
", a remark attributed to
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
of France in reference to the impending end of a functioning French monarchy and predicting the French Revolution. It is derived from
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...
's ''
après nous, le déluge'', "after us, the deluge". The
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
No. 617 Squadron, famously known as the "Dambusters", uses this as its motto.
;
arête
An arête ( ) is a narrow ridge of rock which separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequen ...
: a narrow ridge. In French, also fishbone; edge of a polyhedron or graph; bridge of the nose.
;
armoire
A wardrobe or armoire or almirah is a standing closet used for storing clothes. The earliest wardrobe was a chest, and it was not until some degree of luxury was attained in regal palaces and the castles of powerful nobles that separate accommo ...
: a type of cabinet; wardrobe.
;
arrière-pensée: ulterior motive; concealed thought, plan, or motive.
;
art nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
: a style of decoration and architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It takes a capital in French (''Art nouveau'').
;
attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...
: a person attached to an embassy; in French it is also the past participle of the verb ''attacher'' (= to fasten, to tighten, to be linked)
;
attaque au fer: an attack on the opponent's blade in
fencing
Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...
, e.g. beat, expulsion, pressure.
;
au contraire: on the contrary.
;
au courant
Au, AU, au or a.u. may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* .au, the internet country code for Australia
* Au file format, Sun Microsystems' audio format
* Audio Units, a system level plug-in architecture from Apple Computer
* Adobe Audit ...
: up-to-date; abreast of current affairs.
;
au fait: being conversant in or with, or instructed in or with.
; au gratin: "with gratings", anything that is grated onto a food dish. In English, specifically 'with cheese'.
;
au jus
''Au jus'' () is a French language, French culinary term meaning "with juice". It refers to meat dishes prepared or served together with a light broth or gravy, made from the fluids secreted by the meat as it is cooked. In French cuisine, cookin ...
: lit. "with juice", referring to a food course served with sauce. Often redundantly formulated, as in 'Open-faced steak sandwich, served with au jus.' No longer used in French, except for the colloquial, ''être au jus'' (to be informed).
; au naturel: 1. a. Nude. b. In a natural state: an ''au naturel'' hairstyle. 2. Cooked simply. Also used in French heraldry to mean "proper" i.e. in natural colours.
;
au pair
An au pair (; plural: au pairs) is a helper from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a monet ...
: a young foreigner who does domestic chores in exchange for room and board. In France, those chores are mainly child care/education.
;
au revoir !: "See you later!" In French, a contraction of ''Au plaisir de vous revoir'' ('to the pleasure of seeing you again').
au sec
:lit. "almost dry", reducing liquid to the point of almost dry but food is still moist.
;
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
(pl. ''avant-gardes''): applied to cutting-edge or radically innovative movements in art, music and literature; figuratively 'on the edge', literally, a military term, meaning 'vanguard' (which is a corruption of ''avant-garde'') or "advance guard", in other words, "first to attack" (antonym of ''arrière-garde'').
; avant la lettre: used to describe something or someone seen as a forerunner of something (such as an artistic or political movement) before that something was recognized and named, e.g., "a post-modernist avant la lettre", "a feminist avant la lettre". The expression literally means "before the letter", i.e., "before it had a name". A French modern alternative form of this expression is ''avant l'heure''.
;
avoirdupois
The avoirdupois system (; abbreviated avdp.) is a measurement system of weights that uses pounds and ounces as units. It was first commonly used in the 13th century AD and was updated in 1959.
In 1959, by international agreement, the definiti ...
: used in Middle English, ''avoir de pois'' = commodities sold by weight, alteration of Old French ''aveir de peis'' = "goods of weight". In Modern French, only used to refer to English weight measures, as in ''une livre avoirdupois'' (1 lb. avdp) as opposed to ''une livre troy'' (1 lb. troy).
B
![Brioche](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Brioche.jpg)
;
baguette
A baguette (; ) is a long, thin type of bread of French origin that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, though not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust.
A baguette has a di ...
: a long, narrow loaf of bread with a crisp crust, often called "French bread" or "French stick" in the United Kingdom. In French, a ''baguette'' is any long and narrow stick-like object, for example a "chopstick". Also, a rectangular diamond, cut to twenty-five facets.
;
banquette
A banquette is a small footpath or elevated step along the inside of a rampart or parapet of a fortification. Musketeers atop it were able to view the counterscarp, or fire on enemies in the moat. A typical size is a foot and a half (approximate ...
: a long upholstered bench or a sofa.
;
beaucoup de: Used interchangeably with the English equivalent of "lots of/many/a great number of". Appropriate when the speaker wants to convey a greater positive connotation and/or greater emphasis. Often used as an informal expression, mostly in small regional dialect-pockets in the Canadian Prairies and the American South, especially in Alberta and Louisiana respectively.::
; Beau idéal: lit. "beautiful ideal," used to suggest the perfect or most supreme version of something to exist. The expression was coined during the late 18th century during the aesthetic period known as
classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aestheti ...
. Invoking the balance and refinement of Greek and Roman art and architecture, the term was used for art and architecture that conformed to purity, wholesomeness, equilibrium, and simple elegance.
;
Beau geste
''Beau Geste'' is an adventure novel by British writer P. C. Wren, which details the adventures of three English brothers who enlist separately in the French Foreign Legion following the theft of a valuable jewel from the country house of a rel ...
: lit. "beautiful gesture", a gracious gesture, noble in form but often futile or meaningless in substance. This French expression has been pressing at the door of standard English with only partial success, since the appearance of P. C. Wren's ''Beau Geste'' (1924), the first of his Foreign Legion novels.
;
Beaux-Arts: monumental architectural style of the early 20th century made famous by the
Académie des Beaux-Arts
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
.
;
bel esprit (pl. beaux esprits): lit. "fine mind"; a cultivated, highly intelligent person.
;
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...
: a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I.
;
belles-lettres
is a category of writing, originally meaning beautiful or fine writing. In the modern narrow sense, it is a label for literary works that do not fall into the major categories such as fiction, poetry, or drama. The phrase is sometimes used pejora ...
: lit. "fine letters"; literature regarded for its aesthetic value rather than its didactic or informative content; also, light, stylish writings, usually on literary or intellectual subjects
;
bien entendu: well understood, well known, obvious – "of course"
;
bien pensant: lit. "well thinking"; right thinking, orthodox. Formerly implied willful blindness to dangers or suffering faced by others but, nowadays corresponds to "
politically correct
''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
". The noun form ''bien-pensance'' is rarely seen in English.
; billet-doux: lit. "sweet note", love letter
;
blasé
Blasé may refer to:
* ''Blasé'' (album), an album by Archie Shepp
* "Blasé" (song), a 2015 song by Ty Dolla Sign
{{disambiguation ...
: unimpressed with something because of overfamiliarity, jaded.
;
bon appétit
''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center i ...
: lit. "good appetite"; "enjoy your meal".
;
bon mot
Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engl ...
(pl. ''bons mots'') : well-chosen word(s), particularly a witty remark ("each bon mot which falls from his lips is analysed and filed away for posterity", ''The European Magazine'', August 29 – September 4, 1996)
;
bon vivant
''Bon'', also spelled Bön () and also known as Yungdrung Bon (, "eternal Bon"), is a Tibetan religious tradition with many similarities to Tibetan Buddhism and also many unique features.Samuel 2012, pp. 220-221. Bon initially developed in t ...
: one who enjoys the good life, an
epicurean
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism.
Few writings by Epi ...
.
;
bon voyage: lit. "good journey"; have a good trip!
;
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 ...
: member of the
bourgeoisie
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 ...
, originally councilmen, burghers or even aristocrats living in towns in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
. Now the term is derogatory, and it applies to a person whose beliefs, attitudes, and practices are conventionally middle-class.
;
bric-à-brac
Bric-à-brac () or bric-a-brac (from French), first used in the Victorian era, around 1840, refers to lesser objets d'art forming collections of curios. The French phrase is now obsolete, dating from the 16th century, then meaning "at random, a ...
: small ornamental objects, less valuable than antiques; a collection of old furniture, china, plates and curiosities. Cf. ''de bric et de broc'', corresponding to English "by hook or by crook", and ''brack'', refuse.
;
bricolage
In the arts, ''bricolage'' ( French for "DIY" or "do-it-yourself projects") is the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work constructed using mixed media.
The term ''bricolage'' ...
: to improvise or assemble something useful from what happens to be at hand; to expedite or economize a project with readily available components, versus a kit or outside sources; to reuse spare parts for other than their original purpose; to create something new by arranging old material; to create a new, valuable purpose for an object that has completed its original purpose and would otherwise be discarded. Connotes an intrepid
do-it-yourself
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...
spirit or clever repurposing. Differs from tinkering which merely modifies an existing arrangement. The term is used metaphorically to describe inventive philosophy, theories, and practices in business and academic fields, where new concepts are found in interactions of old ideas.
;
brioche
Brioche (, also , , ) is a bread of French origin whose high egg and butter content gives it a rich and tender crumb. Chef Joël Robuchon described it as "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and ...
: a sweet yeast bun, kind of a crossover between a popover and a light muffin; French also use the term as slang for 'potbelly', because of the overhang effect.
;
bureau
Bureau ( ) may refer to:
Agencies and organizations
* Government agency
*Public administration
* News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location
* Bureau (European Parliament), the administra ...
(pl. ''bureaux''): government office; an agency for information exchange. Also means "desk" in French, and in the U.K.
C
![Picswiss BS-55-89](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Picswiss_BS-55-89.jpg)
; ça ne fait rien: "that doesn't matter"; rendered as ''san fairy Ann'' in British World War I slang.
;
cache
Cache, caching, or caché may refer to:
Places United States
* Cache, Idaho, an unincorporated community
* Cache, Illinois, an unincorporated community
* Cache, Oklahoma, a city in Comanche County
* Cache, Utah, Cache County, Utah
* Cache County ...
: a collection of items of the same type stored in a hidden or inaccessible place (such as in an
oubliette
A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...
). Often used for weapons.
;
cachet
In philately, a cachet is a printed or stamped design or inscription, other than a cancellation or pre-printed postage, on an envelope, postcard, or postal card to commemorate a postal or philatelic event. There are both official and private ( ...
: lit. "stamp"; a distinctive quality; quality, prestige.
;
café
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
: a coffee shop (also used in French for "coffee").
;
café au lait
''Café au lait'' (; ; French for "coffee with milk") is coffee with hot milk added. It differs from white coffee, which is coffee with cold milk or other whiteners added.
Variations Europe
In Europe, ''café au lait'' stems from the same ...
: coffee with milk; or a light-brown color. In medicine, it is also used to describe a birthmark that is of a light-brown color (café au lait spot).
;
calque
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language wh ...
: a copied term/thing.
;
canard: ( means "
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...
" in French)
# an unfounded rumor or anecdote.
# a leading airfoil attached to an aircraft forward of the main wing.
# a slang word for "newspaper".
# a piece of sugar slightly soused with coffee or cognac (or another strong alcohol).
;
canapé
A canapé () is a type of hors d'oeuvre, a small, prepared, and often decorative food, consisting of a small piece of bread (sometimes toasted) wrapped or topped with some savoury food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite.
Name
Th ...
: A small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite. In French, it can also refer to a "sofa".
;
carte blanche
A blank cheque in the literal sense is a cheque that has no monetary value written in, but is already signed. In the figurative sense, it is used to describe a situation in which an agreement has been made that is open-ended or vague, and therefo ...
: lit. "white card" (i.e.
blank check
A blank cheque in the literal sense is a cheque that has no monetary value written in, but is already signed. In the figurative sense, it is used to describe a situation in which an agreement has been made that is open-ended or vague, and therefo ...
); unlimited authority.
;
carte de visite
The ''carte de visite'' (, visiting card), abbreviated CdV, was a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero. Each photograph was the size o ...
: lit. "visiting card"; a calling card.
;
cause célèbre
A cause célèbre (,''Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged'', 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre ,''Random House Kernerman Webs ...
: controversial celebrity issue.
c'est la guerre: "That's war!", or...
c'est la vie: "That's life!" or "Such is life!"
: Though either foreign expression can be used to say that life is harsh but that one must accept it, the former may imply a more deliberate cause thereof, while the latter, more accidental.
;
chaise longue
A chaise longue (; , "long chair") is an upholstered sofa in the shape of a chair that is long enough to support the legs of the sitter.
In modern French the term ''chaise longue'' can refer to any long reclining chair such as a deckchair. A ...
: a long chair for reclining; sometimes misstated as "chaise lounge"
; Champs-Élysées: lit. "
Elysian Fields"; ''Avenue des
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is lo ...
'', one of the broadest boulevards 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 ...
. Often referred to as simply ''les Champs''.
; chanteuse: '(female) singer', a female singer, especially at a nightclub, bar, cabaret, or diner.
;
chargé d'affaires
A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...
: a diplomat left in charge of day-to-day business at a diplomatic mission. Within the United States Department of State, a "chargé" is any officer left in charge of the mission in the absence of the titular chief of mission.
;
charrette
A charrette (American pronunciation: ), often Anglicized to charette or charet and sometimes called a design charrette, is an intense period of design or planning activity.
The word ''charrette'' may refer to any collaborative process by which ...
: a collaborative session in which a group of designers draft a solution to a design problem.
;
chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.
Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...
: driver.
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chef d'œuvre
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
: a masterpiece.
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cherchez la femme
''Cherchez la femme'' () is a French phrase which literally means 'look for the woman'. It is a cliche in detective fiction, used to suggest that a mystery can be resolved by identifying a femme fatale or female love interest.
Origin of the p ...
: "look for / seek the woman", in the sense that, when a man behaves out of character or in an otherwise apparently inexplicable manner, the reason may be found in his trying to cover up an illicit affair with a woman, or to impress or gain favour with a woman. This expression was first used in a novel by
Alexandre Dumas (père), in the third chapter of ''Les Mohicans de Paris'' (1854), in the form of ''cherchons la femme'' ("let's look for the woman"). The expression is found in John Latey's 1878 English translation: "Ah! Monsieur Jackal, you were right when you said, 'Seek the woman.'" The phrase was adopted into everyday English use and crossed the Atlantic by 1909.
;
chez: at the house of: often used in the names of restaurants and the like; ''Chez Marie'' = "Marie's".
;
chic
Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Pronounced Chick.
Etymology
'' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English diction ...
: stylish.
;
chignon: a hairstyle worn in a roll at the nape of the neck.
;
cinéma pur
Non-narrative film is an aesthetic of cinematic film that does not narrate, or relate "an event, whether real or imaginary". It is usually a form of art film or experimental film, not made for mass entertainment.
Narrative film is the dominant ae ...
: an
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
film movement which was born in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s.
;
cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité (, , ; "truthful cinema") is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or high ...
: realism in documentary filmmaking. "Vérité" means "truth".
;
cliché
A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...
: originally referred to a printer's block used to reproduce type, compare the original meaning of
stereotype
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
. A phrase that has become trite through overuse; a stereotype.
;
clique
A clique ( AusE, CanE, or ), in the social sciences, is a group of individuals who interact with one another and share similar interests. Interacting with cliques is part of normative social development regardless of gender, ethnicity, or popular ...
:a small exclusive group of friends; always used in a pejorative way in French and, usually, in English. Often pronounced the same as "click" in
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
.
;
cloisonné
Cloisonné () is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects with colored material held in place or separated by metal strips or wire, normally of gold. In recent centuries, vitreous enamel has been used, but inlays of cut gemstones, ...
: an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects.
;
commandant
Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...
: commanding officer of a base, depot or training area. In France, used for an airline pilot ''(le commandant de bord)'', in the Army as appellative for a ''chef de bataillon'' or a ''chef d'escadron'' (roughly equivalent to a major) or in the Navy for any officer from ''capitaine de corvette'' to ''capitaine de vaisseau'' (equivalent to the Army's majors, lieutenant-colonels and colonels) or for any officer heading a ship.
; comme ci, comme ça: lit. "like this, like that"; neither good nor bad, so-so.
;
communiqué
A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...
: lit. "communicated"; an official communication.
;
concierge
A concierge () is an employee of a multi-tenant building, such as a hotel or apartment building, who receives guests. The concept has been applied more generally to other hospitality settings and to personal concierges who manage the errands of ...
: a receptionist at a hotel or residence.
;
concordat
A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Ed ...
: an agreement; a treaty; when used with a capital C in French, it refers to the treaty between the French State and Judaeo-Christian religions during the French Empire (Napoleon): priests, ministers and rabbis became civil servants. This treaty was abolished in 1905 (law Church-State separation) but is still in use in Alsace-Lorraine (those territories were under German administration during 1871–1918).
; confrère (also confrere): a colleague, an associate
;
contre-coup
In head injury, a coup injury occurs under the site of impact with an object, and a contrecoup injury occurs on the side opposite the area that was hit. Coup and contrecoup injuries are associated with cerebral contusions,
a type of traumatic br ...
: against the blow. This word describes the repercussion of a physical or mental shock, or an indirect consequence of an event.
;
contre-jour
Contre-jour (French for "against daylight") is a photographic technique in which the camera is pointing directly toward a source of light and an equivalent technique of painting.
Description
Before its use in photography, contre-jour was use ...
: against daylight. This word (mostly used in art namely photography, cinema or painting) describes the light that illumines an object from the other side of your own point of view.
;
contretemps: an awkward clash; a delay.
; coquette: a flirtatious girl; a tease.
;
cordon bleu: (lit. "blue ribbon"). A "cordon bleu" may refer to several things, both in French and in English :
# A person who excels in cooking.
# An award given to such a person.
# An international group of hospitality management and cooking schools teaching French cuisine, founded in France.
# An escalope of veal, chicken or pork stuffed with ham and cheese, then breaded and fried.
;
cordon sanitaire
''Cordon sanitaire'' () is French for "sanitary cordon". It may refer to:
*Cordon sanitaire (medicine), a cordon that quarantines an area during an infectious disease outbreak
*Cordon sanitaire (politics), refusal to cooperate with certain politic ...
: a policy of
containment
Containment was a geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States during the Cold War to prevent the spread of communism after the end of World War II. The name was loosely related to the term ''cordon sanitaire'', which was ...
directed against a hostile entity or ideology; a chain of
buffer states
A buffer state is a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between t ...
; lit. "quarantine line".
;
corniche
A corniche is a road on the side of a cliff or mountain, with the ground rising on one side and falling away on the other. The word has been absorbed into English from the French term ' or "road on a ledge", originally derived from the Itali ...
: a road that clings like a ledge to the side of a cliff or mountain.
; cortège: a funeral procession; in French has a broader meaning and refers to all kinds of processions.
;
coup de foudre: lit. "thunderbolt" ("strike of thunder"); a sudden unforeseen event, usually used to describe
love at first sight
Love at first sight is a personal experience as well as a common trope in literature: a person or character feels an instant, extreme, and ultimately long-lasting romantic attraction for a stranger upon first seeing that stranger. Described by p ...
.
;
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
: political coup, government overthrow
;
coup de grâce
A coup de grâce (; 'blow of mercy') is a death blow to end the suffering of a severely wounded person or animal. It may be a mercy killing of mortally wounded civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the sufferer's consent.
...
: the final blow that results in victory (lit. "blow of mercy"), historically used in the context of the battlefield to refer to the killing of badly wounded enemy soldiers, now more often used in a figurative context (e.g., business).
;
coup de main
A ''coup de main'' (; plural: ''coups de main'', French for blow with the hand) is a swift attack that relies on speed and surprise to accomplish its objectives in a single blow.
Definition
The United States Department of Defense defines it as ...
: (lit. "a blow with the hand"), means "help from someone". Example: "Besoin d'un coup de main?" means "Need help?"
; coup de maître: stroke of the master, master stroke. This word describes a planned action skilfully done. See also
tour de force below
; coup de théâtre: a dramatic turn of events.
; coup d'œil: lit. "a blow (or touch) of the eye"; a glance.
;
couture
Couture may refer to:
People
* Couture (surname)
Places
Belgium
* Couture-Saint-Germain, a village in the municipality of Lasne, Belgium
Canada
* Couture crater and Lac Couture, an impact crater and the lake that covers it in Quebec, Canada
...
: litt. sewing. Fashion (usually refers to high fashion). ''haute couture'' in French.
; couturier: a fashion designer (usually refers to high fashion, rather than everyday clothes design. In French, it means 'tailor'; a ''couturière'' is a seamstress.
;
crèche
Crèche or creche (from Latin ''cripia'' "crib, cradle") may refer to:
*Child care center, an organization of adults who take care of children in place of their parents
*Nativity scene, a group of figures arranged to represent the birth of Jesus ...
: a
nativity display; more commonly (in the United Kingdom), a place where children are left by their parents for short periods in the supervision of childminders; both meanings still exist in French.
;
crème brûlée
''Crème brûlée'' or ''crème brulée'' (; ), also known as burnt cream or Trinity cream, and virtually identical to the original crema catalana, is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hardened caramelized sugar ...
: lit. "burnt cream"; a dessert consisting primarily of custard and toasted sugar, that is,
caramel
Caramel ( or ) is an orange-brown confectionery product made by heating a range of sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, or as a topping for ice cream and custard.
The process of caramelizatio ...
.
;
crème de la crème
Crème de la crème (French, ''literally'' 'cream of the cream') is an idiom meaning "the best of the best", "superlative", or "the very best". It may also refer to:
* Creme de la Creme (band), a defunct German band
* '' La Crème de la crème'' ...
: best of the best, "cream of the cream", used to describe highly skilled people or objects. A synonymous expression in French is ''fin du fin''.
;
crème fraîche
Crème fraîche (English pronunciation: , , lit. "fresh cream") is a dairy product, a soured cream containing 10–45% butterfat, with a pH of approximately 4.5., p. 181''f'' It is soured with a bacterial culture. European labeling regulations ...
: lit. "fresh cream", a heavy cream slightly soured with bacterial culture, but not as sour or as thick as sour cream and does not curdle.
;
crêpe
A crêpe or crepe ( or , , Quebec French: ) is a very thin type of pancake. Crêpes are usually one of two varieties: ''sweet crêpes'' () or ''savoury galettes'' (). They are often served with a wide variety of fillings such as cheese, ...
: a thin sweet or savoury pancake eaten as a light meal or dessert.
![Welwyn Garden City cul-de-sac](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Welwyn_Garden_City_cul-de-sac.jpg)
;
crêperie: a takeaway restaurant or stall, serving crêpes as a form of fast food or street food, or may be a more formal sit-down restaurant or café.
;
critique
Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic study of a written or oral discourse. Although critique is commonly understood as fault finding and negative judgment,Rodolphe Gasché (2007''The honor of thinking: critique, theory, philosophy''p ...
: a critical analysis or evaluation of a work, or the art of criticizing. From
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''criticus'', from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
κριτικός (''kritikos'').
;
croissant
A croissant is a buttery, flaky, Austrian viennoiserie pastry inspired by the shape of the Austrian kipferl but using the French yeast-leavened laminated dough. Croissants are named for their historical crescent shape, the dough is layered wi ...
: a crescent-shaped bread made of flaky pastry; in French also the word for
crescent
A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself.
In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...
.
;
cul-de-sac
A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (, from French for 'bag-bottom'), no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet.
The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology ...
: originally "bottom of sack" and used in English in anatomy since 1738. Used for
dead end
Dead End or dead end may refer to:
* Dead end (street), a street connected only at one end with other streets, called by many other official names, including ''cul-de-sac''.
Film and television
* ''The Dead End'' (1914 film), directed by Davi ...
(street) since 1800 in English, since 14th century in French. The often heard erroneous folk etymology "arse
uttocksof the sack" is based on the current meaning of ''cul'' in French, but ''cul-de-sac'' is used to refer to dead ends in modern French and is not vulgar, though the terms ''
impasse
A bargaining impasse occurs when the two sides negotiating an agreement are unable to reach an agreement and become deadlocked. An impasse is almost invariably mutually harmful, either as a result of direct action which may be taken such as a st ...
'' and ''voie sans issue'' are more common in modern French.
D
![Hannoveraner Dressur Goethe 3 bestes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Hannoveraner_Dressur_Goethe_3_bestes.jpg)
;
de rigueur: required or expected, especially in fashion or etiquette.
; de trop: unnecessary, unwanted, or more than is suitable.
;
déclassé: inferior.
;
décolleté
Cleavage is the narrow depression or hollow between the breasts of a woman. The superior portion of cleavage may be accentuated by clothing such as a low-cut neckline that exposes the division, and often the term is used to describe the low neck ...
: a woman's garment with a low-cut neckline that exposes cleavage, or a situation in which a woman's chest or cleavage is exposed;
décolletage
Cleavage is the narrow depression or hollow between the breasts of a woman. The superior portion of cleavage may be accentuated by clothing such as a low-cut neckline that exposes the division, and often the term is used to describe the low neck ...
is dealt with below.
;
décor
Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...
: the layout and furnishing of a room.
;
découpage
''Decoupage'' or ''découpage'' (; ) is the decorative arts, art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf, and other decorative elements. Commonly, an object like a sm ...
: decoration with cut paper.
;
demi-glace
Demi-glace (, 'half glaze') is a rich brown sauce in French cuisine used by itself or as a base for other sauces. The term comes from the French word ''glace'', which, when used in reference to a sauce, means "icing" or "glaze." It is tradition ...
: a reduced wine-based sauce for meats and poultry.
;
demi-sec
The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, wh ...
: semi-dry, usually said of wine.
;
déjà vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford Univer ...
: lit. "already seen": an impression or illusion of having seen or experienced something before.
;
dénouement
Dramatic structure (also known as dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of dramatic structures worldwide which have been hypothesized by critics, writers and scholar ...
: lit. "untying": the resolution of a narrative.
;
dépanneur
A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
: (
Quebec English
Quebec English encompasses the English dialects (both native and non-native) of the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec. There are few distinctive phonological features and very few restricted lexical features common among ...
) a
convenience store
A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
.
;
dérailleur
Shimano 600 front derailleur (1980)
A derailleur is a variable-ratio bicycle gearing system consisting of a chain, multiple sprockets of different sizes, and a mechanism to move the chain from one sprocket to another.
Modern front and rear d ...
: a bicycle gear-shift mechanism.
; dernier cri: lit. "latest scream": the latest fashion.
; derrière: lit. "behind": rear, buttocks.
;
déshabillé: partially clad or scantily dressed; also a special type of garment.
;
détente
Détente (, French: "relaxation") is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The term, in diplomacy, originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsuccessfully to reduc ...
: easing of diplomatic tension.
; digestif: a digestive aid, esp., an after-dinner drink, as brandy.
;
directeur sportif
A ''directeur sportif'' ( French for sporting director, although the original French term is often used in English-language media; plural ''directeurs sportifs'') is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is se ...
: lit. "sports director". A person responsible for the operation of a cycling team during a road bicycle race. In French, it means any kind of sports director.
; divertissement: an amusing diversion; entertainment.
; dossier: a file containing detailed information about a person. In modern French it can be any type of file, including a computer directory. In slang, ''J'ai des dossiers sur toi'' ("I have files about you") means having materials for blackmail.
;
doyen
Doyen and doyenne (from the French word ''doyen'', ''doyenne'' in the feminine grammatical gender) is the senior ambassador by length of service in a particular country.
In the English language, the meaning of doyen (feminine form: doyenne) h ...
: the senior member of a group; the feminine is
doyenne
Doyen and doyenne (from the French word ''doyen'', ''doyenne'' in the feminine grammatical gender) is the senior ambassador by length of service in a particular country.
In the English language, the meaning of doyen (feminine form: doyenne) h ...
. Also dean (of faculty, or medicine).
;
dressage
Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...
: a form of competitive horse training, in French has the broader meaning of taming any kind of animal.
;
droit du seigneur
('right of the lord'), also known as ('right of the first night'), was a supposed legal right in medieval Europe, allowing feudal lords to have sexual relations with subordinate women, in particular, on the wedding nights of the women.
A maj ...
: lit. "right of the lord": the purported right of a lord in feudal times to take the virginity of one of his
vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...
s' brides on her wedding night (in precedence to her new husband). The French term for this hypothetical custom is ''droit de cuissage'' (from ''cuisse'': thigh).
; du jour: lit. "of the day": said of something fashionable or hip for a day and quickly forgotten; today's choice on the menu, as soup ''du jour''.
E
![Pointeshoe1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Pointeshoe1.jpg)
;
eau de Cologne
Eau de Cologne (; German: ''Kölnisch Wasser'' ; meaning "Water from Cologne"), or simply cologne, is a perfume originating from Cologne, Germany. Originally mixed by Johann Maria Farina (Giovanni Maria Farina) in 1709, it has since come to be a ge ...
: a type of perfume, originating in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
. Its Italian creator used a French name to commercialize it, Cologne at that time being under the control of France.
;
eau de toilette
Eau de toilette (, meaning "grooming water") is a lightly scented perfume. It is also referred to as aromatic waters and has a high alcohol content. It is usually applied directly to the skin after bathing or shaving. It is traditionally composed ...
: lit. "grooming water". It usually refers to an aromatic product that is less expensive than a perfume because it has less of the aromatic compounds and is more for an everyday use. Cannot be shortened to ''eau'', which means something else altogether in French (water).
;
eau de vie
An ''eau de vie'' ( French for spirit, §16, §17 literally " water of life") is a clear, colourless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation. The fruit flavor is typically very light.
In English-speakin ...
: lit. "water of life" (cf.
Aquavit and
whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden c ...
), a type of
fruit brandy
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...
.
;
écarté
Écarté is an old French casino game for two players that is still played today. It is a trick-taking game, similar to whist, but with a special and eponymous discarding phase; the word ''écarté'' meaning "discarded". Écarté was popular in the ...
: a card game; also a ballet position.
;
échappé: dance movement foot position.
;
éclair
An éclair is a pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with chocolate icing. The dough, which is the same as that used for profiterole, is typically piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp ...
: a cream and chocolate icing pastry.
;
éclat: great brilliance, as of performance or achievement. Conspicuous success. Great acclamation or applause.
;
écorché
An ''écorché'' () is a figure drawn, painted, or sculpted showing the muscles of the body without skin, normally as a figure study for another work or as an exercise for a student artist. The Renaissance-era architect, theorist and all-around R ...
: flayed; biological graphic or model with skin removed.
;
élan: a distinctive flair or style.
;
élan vital
''Élan vital'' () is a term coined by French philosopher Henri Bergson in his 1907 book '' Creative Evolution'', in which he addresses the question of self-organisation and spontaneous morphogenesis of things in an increasingly complex manner ...
: lit. "vital ardor"; the vital force hypothesized by
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson as a source of efficient causation and evolution in nature; also called "life-force"
;
éminence grise
An ''éminence grise'' () or grey eminence is a powerful decision-maker or adviser who operates "behind the scenes", or in a non-public or unofficial capacity.
This phrase originally referred to François Leclerc du Tremblay, the right-hand man ...
: lit. "grey eminence": a publicity-shy person with little formal power but great influence over those in authority.
;
en banc
In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller ...
: court hearing of the entire group of judges instead of a subset panel.
;
en bloc
''En Bloc'' is a Singaporean drama produced by Mediacorp, a local TV station.
Plot
The drama follows the Lim family and some residents of an old Tampines Grove condominium of the consequences of having their estate up for an en bloc sale for r ...
: as a group.
;
en garde: "
eon
our
Our or OUR may refer to:
* The possessive form of " we"
* Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany
* Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium
* Our, Jura, a commune in France
* Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regulato ...
guard". "On guard" is of course perfectly good English: the French spelling is used for the
fencing
Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...
term.
;
en passant
''En passant'' (, "in passing") is a method of capturing in chess that occurs when a pawn captures a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn that has just made an initial two-square advance. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy paw ...
: in passing; term used in chess and in
neurobiology
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...
("
synapse
In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell.
Synapses are essential to the transmission of nervous impulses from ...
en passant.")
;
en plein air
''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors.
This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
: lit. "in the open air"; particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors.
;
en pointe
Pointe technique ( ) is the part of classical ballet technique that concerns ''pointe work'', in which a ballet dancer supports all body weight on the tips of fully extended feet within pointe shoes. A dancer is said to be ''en pointe'' () whe ...
: (in ballet) on
tiptoe
Tiptoe (tiptoes or tippy toes) describes the human body posture and locomotion of removing the heel(s) of one or both feet from the ground. The term is mostly used colloquially when the weight is placed on the balls of the feet rather than lit ...
. Though used in French in this same context, it is not an expression as such. A ''pointe'' is the ballet figure where one stands on tiptoes. The expression "en pointe", though, means "in an acute angle", and, figuratively, it qualifies the most progressive or modern things (ideas, industry).
;
en route
''En route'' may refer to:
* ''En Route'' (novel), an 1895 novel by Joris-Karl Huysmans
* ''En Route'' (film), a 2004 German movie directed by Jan Krüger
* En-route chart, in aeronautics
* enRoute (credit card), Air Canada's credit card divisi ...
:on the way. Often written and pronounced "On route" in British English.
;
enfant terrible
''Enfant terrible'' (; ; "terrible child") is a French expression, traditionally referring to a child who is terrifyingly candid by saying embarrassing things to parents or others. However, the expression has drawn multiple usage in careers of ...
: lit. "terrible child"; a disruptively unconventional person.
;
ennui
In conventional usage, boredom, ennui, or tedium is an emotional and occasionally psychological state experienced when an individual is left without anything in particular to do, is listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occup ...
: A gripping listlessness or melancholia caused by boredom; depression
; entente: diplomatic agreement or cooperation. L'
Entente cordiale
The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial de ...
(the Cordial Entente) refers to the good diplomatic relationship between France and United Kingdom before the first World War.
;
entre nous: lit. "between us"; confidentially.
;
entrée
An entrée (, ; ) in modern French table service and that of much of the English-speaking world (apart from the United States and parts of Canada) is a dish served before the main course of a meal. Outside North America, it is generally synony ...
: lit. "entrance"; the first course of a meal (UK English); used to denote the main dish or course of a meal (US English).
;
entremet
An entremet or entremets (; ; from Old French, literally meaning "between servings") in French cuisine historically referred to small dishes served between courses but in modern times more commonly refers to a type of dessert. By the end of the ...
s: desserts/sweet dishes. More literally, a side dish that can be served between the courses of a meal.
;
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
: a person who undertakes and operates a new enterprise or venture and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks.
; embonpoint: a plump, hourglass figure.
;
épater la bourgeoisie
or (or ) is a French phrase that became a rallying cry for the French Decadent poets of the late 19th century including Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud.[middle class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...]
es", a rallying cry for the French
Decadent poets of the late 19th century including
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
and
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he starte ...
.
;
escargot
Snails are considered edible in many areas such as the Mediterranean region, Africa, or Southeast Asia, while in other cultures, snails are seen as a taboo food. In American English, edible land snails are also called escargot, taken from the Fren ...
: snail; in English, used only as a culinary term.
;
esprit de corps: lit. "spirit of the body
roup: a feeling of solidarity among members of a group; morale. Often used in connection with a military force.
;
esprit de l'escalier: lit. "wit of the stairs"; a concise, clever statement you think of too late, that is, on the stairs leaving the scene. The expression was created by French philosopher
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promine ...
.
; l'État, c'est moi!: lit. "I am the state!" — attributed to the archetypal absolute monarch,
Louis XIV of France
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Versa ...
.
;
étude
An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidl ...
: a musical composition designed to provide practice in a particular technical skill in the performance of an instrument. French for "study."
;
étui
A decorative box is a form of packaging that is generally more than just functional, but also intended to be decorative and artistic. Many such boxes are used for promotional packaging, both commercially and privately. Historical objects are ...
: small ornamental case for needles or cosmetics.
;
excusez-moi: "Excuse me".
; extraordinaire: extraordinary, usually as a following adjective, as "musician extraordinaire."
F
;
façade
A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'.
In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...
: the front of an edifice (from the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
''facciata'', or face); a fake persona, as in "putting on a façade" (the ''ç'' is pronounced like an ''s'')
;
fait accompli
Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engli ...
: lit. "accomplished fact"; something that has already happened and is thus unlikely to be reversed; a done deal. In French, the term is primarily used in the expression ''placer/mettre quelqu'un devant le fait accompli'', meaning to present somebody with a fait accompli. Also see
point of no return
The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is dangerous, physically impossible or difficult, or prohibitively expensive. The point of no return can be a ...
.
;
faute de mieux: for want of better.
; faites comme chez vous
:Make yourself at home.
;
faux
Faux may refer to: People
*Faux (surname)
Places Places in Belgium
* Faux, a village in the Belgian commune of Court-Saint-Étienne
Places in France
* Faux, Ardennes, French commune of the Ardennes department
* Faux, Dordogne, French commune of t ...
:false,
ersatz
An ersatz good () is a substitute good, especially one that is considered inferior to the good it replaces. It has particular connotations of wartime usage.
Etymology
''Ersatz'' is a German word literally meaning ''substitute'' or ''replacement ...
, fake.
; faux pas:lit. "false step": violation of accepted, although unwritten, social rules.
;
femme fatale
A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of ...
:lit. "deadly woman": an attractive woman who seduces and takes advantage of men for her personal goals, after which she discards or abandons them. It extends to describe an attractive woman with whom a relationship is likely to result, or has already resulted, in pain and sorrow.
;
feuilleton
A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of french: feuillet, the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criti ...
:lit. "little leaf of paper": a periodical, or part of a periodical, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle of the latest fashions, and epigrams, charades and other literary trifles.
; fiancé(e):betrothed; lit. a man/woman engaged to be married.
;
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
:Lit. "black film": a stylized genre of movies from the 1940s and 1950s with a focus on crime and amorality.
; fils:lit. "son": used after a man's surname to distinguish a son from a father, as
Alexandre Dumas, fils
Alexandre Dumas (; 27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was a French author and playwright, best known for the romantic novel ''La Dame aux Camélias'' (''The Lady of the Camellias''), published in 1848, which was adapted into Giuseppe Verdi's 1 ...
.
; fin de siècle:The end of the century, a term which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom
turn of the century
Turn of the century, in its broadest sense, refers to the transition from one century to another. The term is most often used to indicate a distinctive time period either before or after the beginning of a century or both before and after.
Acc ...
and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another.
;
flambé
:''Flambé is also a type of ceramic glaze.''
Flambé (, , ; also spelled flambe) is a cooking procedure in which alcohol is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames. The word means "flamed" in French.
Flambéing is often associated with t ...
:a cooking procedure in which alcohol (ethanol) is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames, meaning "flamed" in French. Also used colloquially in reference to something on fire or burned.
; flambeau:a lit torch.
;
flâneur
() is a French noun referring to a person, literally meaning "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", or "loafer", but with some nuanced additional meanings (including as a loanword into English). is the act of strolling, with all of its acco ...
:a gentleman stroller of city streets; an aimless idler.
;
fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol.
The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
: a stylized-flower heraldic device; the golden ''fleur-de-lis'' on an azure background were the arms of the French Kingdom (often spelled with the old French style as "fleur-de-lys").
![FleurDeSel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/FleurDeSel.JPG)
;
fleur de sel
''Fleur de sel'' ("flower of salt" in French; ) or ''flor de sal'' (also "flower of salt" in Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan) is a salt that forms as a thin, delicate crust on the surface of seawater as it evaporates. ''Fleur de sel'' has been c ...
: lit. "flower of salt", hand-harvested sea salt collected by workers who scrape only the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of large salt pans. Is one of the more expensive salts; traditional French fleur de sel is collected off the coast of
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
most notably in the town of
Guérande
Guérande (; br, Gwenrann, ; french: label=Gallo, Geraundd) is a medieval town located in the department of Loire-Atlantique, and the region of Pays de la Loire, Western France.
The inhabitants are referred to as ''Guérandais'' (masculine), and ...
(''Fleur de Sel de Guérande'' being the most revered), but also in
Noirmoutier
Noirmoutier (also French language, French: Île de Noirmoutier, ; br, Nervouster, ) is a tidal island off the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of France in the Vendée Departments of France, department (85).
History
Noirmoutier was the locatio ...
,
Île de Ré
Île de Ré (; variously spelled Rhé or Rhéa; Poitevin: ''ile de Rét''; en, Isle of Ré, ) is an island off the Atlantic coast of France near La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait.
Its highe ...
and
Camargue
Camargue (, also , , ; oc, label= Provençal, Camarga) is a region of France located south of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône delta. The eastern arm is called the ''Grand Rhône''; the western one is the ''P ...
.
![Foie gras en cocotte](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Foie_gras_en_cocotte.jpg)
;
foie gras
Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding).
Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy ...
: fatty liver; usually the liver of overfed goose, hence: ''pâté de foie gras'', pâté made from goose liver.
;
folie à deux
Folie à deux ('folly of two', or 'madness haredby two'), also known as shared psychosis or shared delusional disorder (SDD), is a collection of rare psychiatric syndromes in which symptoms of a delusional belief, and sometimes hallucinations, ...
: a simultaneous occurrence of delusions in two closely related people, often said of an unsuitable romance. In clinical psychology, the term is used to describe people who share schizophrenic delusions. The derived forms ''folie à trois'', ''folie à quatre'', ''folie en famille'' or even ''folie à plusieurs'' do not exist in French where "collective hysterics" is used.
;
force majeure
In contract law, (from Law French: 'overwhelming force', ) is a common clause in contracts which essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of the parties, such ...
: an overpowering and unforeseeable event, especially when talking about weather (often appears in insurance contracts).
;
forte
Forte or Forté may refer to:
Music
*Forte (music), a musical dynamic meaning "loudly" or "strong"
*Forte number, an ordering given to every pitch class set
*Forte (notation program), a suite of musical score notation programs
*Forte (vocal gro ...
: Lit. "strong point" (of a sword). Strength, expertise, one's strong point.
;
froideur: coldness (for behavior and manners only).
G
![Grenadier-a-pied-de-la-Vieille-Garde](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Grenadier-a-pied-de-la-Vieille-Garde.png)
;
gaffe
A political gaffe is an error in speech made by a politician.
Definition
According to Barack Obama it is:
used by the press to describe any maladroit phrase by a candidate that reveals ignorance, carelessness, fuzzy thinking, insensitivity, m ...
: blunder
;
garage
A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include:
*Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...
: covered parking
;
garçon: lit. "boy" or "male servant"; sometimes used by English speakers to summon the attention of a male
waiter (has a playful connotation in English but is condescending and possibly offensive in French).
;
gauche: lit. "
left
Left may refer to:
Music
* ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006
* ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016
* "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996
Direction
* Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right
* L ...
". Clumsy, tactless.
;
gaucherie: boorishness, clumsiness.
;
gendarme
Wrong info! -->
A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "Man-at-arms, men-at-arms" ...
: a member of the
gendarmerie
Wrong info! -->
A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...
; colloquially, a policeman
;
gendarmerie
Wrong info! -->
A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...
: a military body charged with police duties
;
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
: a type or class, such as "the
thriller genre".
;
gîte
A gîte () is a type of accommodation that comes in a variety of forms, ranging from a gîtes d'etape, a hostel, for walkers and cyclists, to a gîte rural, a holiday home in the country available for rent, often an accessory dwelling unit. The t ...
: furnished vacation cottage typically in rural France.
;
glissade: slide down a slope.
;
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
:lit. "Great Prize"; a type of motor racing. English plural is ''Grands Prix.''
;
Grand Guignol
''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Quartier Pigalle, Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it spe ...
: a
horror show, named after a French theater famous for its frightening plays and bloody special effects. (''
Guignol
Guignol () is the main character in a French puppet show which has come to bear his name. It represents the workers in the silk industry of France. Although often thought of as children's entertainment, Guignol's sharp wit and linguistic verve ha ...
'' can be used in French to describe a ridiculous person, in the same way that ''clown'' might be used in English.)
;
grenadier
A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word '' grenade'') was originally a specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in battle. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when grenadiers were recruited fr ...
: a specialized soldier, first established for the throwing of grenades and later as elite troops.
H
![Robe lacroix arles 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Robe_lacroix_arles_2008.jpg)
; habitué: one who regularly frequents a place.
;
haute couture
''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...
: lit. "high sewing": Paris-based custom-fitted clothing; trend-setting fashion
;
haute école: lit. "high school": advanced components of Classical dressage (horseback riding); when capitalized (Haute Ecole), refers to France's most prestigious higher education institutions (e.g., Polytechnique, ENA, Les Mines)
; hauteur: lit. "height": arrogance.
; haut monde: lit. the "high world": fashionable society.
;
Honi soit qui mal y pense
(, , ) is a maxim in the Anglo-Norman language, a dialect of Old Norman French spoken by the medieval ruling class in England, meaning "shamed be whoever thinks ill of it", usually translated as "shame on anyone who thinks evil of it" It is ...
: "Shamed be he who thinks ill of it"; or sometimes translated as "Evil be to him who evil thinks"; the motto of the English
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George C ...
(modern French writes ''honni'' instead of Old French ''honi'' and would phrase "qui en pense du mal" instead of "qui mal y pense"). The sentence ''Honni soit qui mal y pense'' (often with double n) can still be used in French as a frozen expression to mean "Let nobody think ill of this" by allusion to the Garter's motto. A more colloquial quasi-synonymous expression in French would be ''en tout bien tout honneur''.
;
hors de combat
''Hors de combat'' (; ) is a French term used in diplomacy and international law to refer to persons who are incapable of performing their combat duties during war. Examples include persons parachuting from their disabled aircraft, as well as ...
: lit. "out of the fight": prevented from fighting or participating in some event, usually by injury.
; hors concours: lit. "out of competition": not to be judged with others because of the superiority of the work to the others.
;
hors d'œuvre: lit. "outside the
ain
Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where ...
work": appetizer.
I
![MaryPickford13](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/MaryPickford13.jpg)
;
idée fixe: lit. "fixed idea": obsession; in music, a
leitmotiv
A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...
.
;
impasse
A bargaining impasse occurs when the two sides negotiating an agreement are unable to reach an agreement and become deadlocked. An impasse is almost invariably mutually harmful, either as a result of direct action which may be taken such as a st ...
: a situation offering no escape, as a difficulty without solution, an argument where no agreement is possible, etc.; a deadlock.
;
ingénu(e): an innocent young man/woman, used particularly in reference to a theatrical
stock character
A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
who is entirely virginal and wholesome. ''L'Ingénu'' is a famous novella written by
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
.
J
; j'accuse: "I accuse"; used generally in reference to a political or social indictment (alluding to
J'Accuse…!
"''J'Accuse...!''" (; "I Accuse...!") is an open letter that was published on 13 January 1898 in the newspaper ''L'Aurore'' by Émile Zola in response to the Dreyfus affair. Zola addressed President of France Félix Faure and accused his Govern ...
,
Émile Zola
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...
's exposé of the
Dreyfus affair
The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...
, a political scandal that divided France from the 1890s to the early 1900s (decade) and involved the false conviction for treason in 1894 of
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...
, a young French artillery officer of Jewish background).
; j'adoube: In chess, an expression, said discreetly, that signals the intention to straighten the pieces without committing to move or capturing the first one touched as per the game's rules; lit. "I adjust", from ''adouber'', to dub (the action of knighting someone).
; je ne regrette rien: "I regret nothing" (from the title of a popular song sung by Édith Piaf: ''Non, je ne regrette rien''). Also the phrase the UK's then Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont (1942), Norman Lamont chose to use to describe his feelings over the events of September 16, 1992 ('Black Wednesday').
; wiktionary:je ne sais quoi, je ne sais quoi: lit. "I-don't-know-what": an indescribable or indefinable 'something' that distinguishes the object in question from others that are superficially similar.
; wiktionary:jeu d'esprit, jeu d'esprit: lit. "play of spirit": a witty, often light-hearted, comment or composition
; wiktionary:jeunesse dorée, jeunesse dorée: lit. "gilded youth"; name given to a body of young dandy, dandies, also called the Muscadins, who, after the fall of Maximilien Robespierre, Robespierre, fought against the Jacobin (politics), Jacobins. Today used for youthful offspring, particularly if bullying and vandalistic, of the affluent.
; wiktionary:joie de vivre, joie de vivre: "joy of life/living".
L
; l'appel du vide: lit. "call of the void"; used to refer to intellectual suicidal thoughts, or the urge to engage in self-destructive (suicidal) behaviors during everyday life. Examples include thinking about swerving in to the opposite lane while driving, or feeling the urge to jump off a cliff edge while standing on it. These thoughts are not accompanied by emotional distress.
; laissez-faire:lit. "let do"; often used within the context of economic policy or political philosophy, meaning leaving alone, or non-interference. The phrase is the shortcut of ''Laissez faire, laissez passer'', a doctrine first supported by the Physiocrats in the 18th century. The motto was invented by Vincent de Gournay, and it became popular among supporters of free-trade and economic liberalism. It is also used to describe a parental style in developmental psychology, where the parent(s) does not apply rules or guiding. As per the parental style, it is now one of the major management styles. Used more generally in modern English to describe a particularly casual or "hands-off" attitude or approach to something,
; Laissez-Passer, laissez-passer: a travel document, a passport
; laissez les bons temps rouler: Cajun expression for "let the good times roll": not used in proper French, and not generally understood by Francophones outside Louisiana, who would say ''profitez des bons moments'' (enjoy the good moments).
; Lamé (fabric), lamé: a type of fabric woven or knit with metallic yarns.
; lanterne rouge: the last-place finisher in a cycling stage race; most commonly used in connection with the Tour de France.
; wiktionary:lèse majesté, lèse majesté: an offense against a sovereign power; or, an attack against someone's dignity or against a custom or institution held sacred (from the Latin ''crimen laesae maiestatis'': the crime of injured majesty).
; liaison: a close relationship or connection; an affair. The French meaning is broader; ''liaison'' also means "bond"' such as in ''une liaison chimique'' (a chemical bond)
; lingerie: a type of female underwear.
; littérateur: an intellectual (can be pejorative in French, meaning someone who writes a lot but does not have a particular skill).
; louche: of questionable taste, but also someone or something that arouses somebody's suspicions.
; Louis Quatorze: Louis XIV of France, "Louis XIV" (of France), the Sun King, usually a reference to décor or furniture design.
; Louis Quinze: Louis XV of France, "Louis XV" (of France), associated with the rococo style of furniture, architecture and interior decoration.
M
![MGD08ToastPurpleGreenGoldDrums](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/MGD08ToastPurpleGreenGoldDrums.jpg)
; macramé: coarse lace work made with knotted cords.
; madame : a woman pimp, brothel-keeper (Fowler's Modern English Usage, 3rd edition, p. 475). In French, a title of respect for an older or married woman (literally "my lady"); sometimes spelled "madam" in English (but never in French).
; mademoiselle: lit. "my noble young lady": young unmarried lady, miss.
; malaise:a general sense of depression or unease. Can also be used to denote complacency, or lethargy towards something.
; mange tout (disambiguation), mange tout: a phrase describing snow peas and snap peas (lit. "eat-all", because these peas can be cooked and eaten with their pod).
; manqué: unfulfilled; failed.
; Mardi Gras, Mardi gras: Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday, the last day of eating meat before Lent.
; marque: a model or brand.
; matériel: supplies and equipment, particularly in a military context (French meaning is broader and corresponds more to "hardware")
; wiktionary:mauvais quart d'heure, mauvais quart d'heure: lit. "bad quarter hour": a short unpleasant or uncomfortable moment.
; wiktionary:mort de rire, mdr: Alt., MDR. Abbreviation in SMS, :wikt:mort de rire, akin to LOL; for ''mort de rire'' (''mort'', adj. or verb, past tense), or ''mourir de rire'' (''mourir'', verb, infinitive). Lit., as adjective or past tense, dead or wikt:die, died laugh, of laughing, so "died laughing" or "dying of laughter"; compare ''mort de faim'' for starve.
; mélange: a mixture.
; mêlée: a confused fight; a struggling crowd. In French also: a rugby scrum.
; ménage à trois: lit. "household for three": a sexual arrangement between three people.
; wiktionary:métier, métier: a field of work or other activity; usually one in which one has special ability or training.
; social environment, milieu: social environment; setting (has also the meaning of "middle", and organized crime community in French).
; milieu intérieur: the extra-cellular fluid environment, and its physiological capacity to ensure protective stability for the tissues and organs of multicellular living organisms.
; mirepoix (cuisine), mirepoix: a cooking mixture of two parts onions and one part each of celery and carrots.
; mise en place: an assembly of ingredients, usually set up in small bowls, used to facilitate cooking. This means all the raw ingredients are prepared and ready to go before cooking. Translated, "put in place."
; mise en scène: the process of setting a stage with regard to placement of actors, scenery, properties, etc.; the stage setting or scenery of a play; surroundings, environment.
; mise en table: table setting.
; Montage (filmmaking), montage: editing.
; le wiktionary:mot juste, mot juste: lit. "the just word"; the right word at the right time. French uses it often in the expression ''chercher le mot juste'' (to search for the right word).
; wikt:motif, motif: a recurrent thematic element.
; wiktionary:moue, moue: a type of facial expression; pursing together of the lips to indicate dissatisfaction, a pout (disambiguation), pout. See snout reflex.
; mousse: a whipped dessert or a hairstyling foam; in French, however, it refers to any type of foam or moss.
N
; naïveté
: Lack of sophistication, experience, judgement, or worldliness; artlessness; gullibility; credulity.
; né, née
: lit. "born": a man's/woman's birth name (Married and maiden names, maiden name for a woman), e.g., "Martha Washington, ''née'' Dandridge."
; wikt:n'est-ce pas, n'est-ce pas?: "isn't it [true]?"
: asked rhetorically after a statement, as in "Right?".
; noblesse oblige: "nobility obliges"
: those granted a higher station in life have a duty to extend (possibly token) favours/courtesies to those in lower stations.
; Pseudonym, nom de guerre
: pseudonym to disguise the identity of a leader of a militant group, literally "war name", used in France for "pseudonym".
; Pen name, nom de plume: a "back-translation" from the English "pen name": author's pseudonym.
: Although now used in French as well, the term was coined in English by analogy with ''nom de guerre''.
; wikt:nonpareil, nonpareil: Unequalled, unrivalled; unparalleled; unique
: the modern French equivalent of this expression is ''sans pareil'' (literally "without equal").
; nouveau (pl. nouveaux; fem. nouvelle; fem. pl. nouvelles): new.
; nouveau riche: lit. "newly rich"
: used to refer particularly to those living a garish lifestyle with their newfound wealth; see also arriviste and parvenu.
; nouvelle vague: lit. "new wave."
: Used for stating a new way or a new trend of something. Originally marked a new style of French filmmaking in the late 1950s and early 1960s, reacting against films seen as too literary.
O
; objet d'art: a work of art, commonly a painting or sculpture; also a utilitarian object displayed for its aesthetic qualities
; wiktionary:œuvre, œuvre: "work", in the sense of an artist's work; by extension, an artist's entire body of work.
; opéra bouffe: comedy, satire, parody or farce.
; wikt:outré, outré: exceeding the lines of propriety; eccentric in behavior or appearance in an inappropriate way
P
![T Roosevelt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/T_Roosevelt.jpg)
; pain au chocolat: lit. "bread with chocolate." Despite the name, it is not made of bread but puff pastry with chocolate inside. The term ''chocolatine'' is used in some Francophone areas (especially the South-West) and sometimes in English.
; pain aux raisins: raisin bread.
; panache: verve; flamboyance.
; papier-mâché: lit. "chewed paper"; a craft medium using paper and paste.
; par avion: by aircraft. In English, specifically by air mail, from the phrase found on air mail envelopes.
; wiktionary:par excellence, par excellence: better than all the others, quintessential.
; parc fermé: lit. "closed park". A secure area at a
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
circuit where the cars may be stored overnight.
; parkour: urban street sport involving climbing and leaping, using buildings, walls, curbs to ricochet off much as if one were on a skateboard, often in follow-the-leader style. Originally a phonetic form of the French word ''parcours'', which means "a run, a route" Also known as, or the predecessor to, "free running", developed by Sébastien Foucan.
; parole: 1) (in linguistics) speech, more specifically the individual, personal phenomenon of language; see langue and parole. 2) (in criminal justice) conditional early release from prison; see parole.
; parvenu: a social upstart.
; pas de deux: lit. "step for two"; in ballet, a dance or figure for two performers, a duet; also a close relationship between two people.
; pas de trois: lit. "step for three"; in ballet, a dance or figure for three performers.
; wiktionary:passe-partout, passe-partout: a document or key that allows the holder to travel without hindrance from the authorities or enter any location.
; pastiche: a derivative work; an imitation.
; patois: a dialect; jargon.
; wiktionary:père, père : lit. "father", used after a man's surname to distinguish a father from a son, as in Alexandre Dumas, père.
; peloton: in road bicycle racing, road cycling, the main group of riders in a race.
; Pea, petit pois: small peas, often sold in the frozen food aisle.
; petite bourgeoisie: often anglicised as "petty bourgeoisie", used to designate the middle class.
; la petite mort: lit. "the little death"; an expression for the weakening or loss of consciousness following an intense orgasm.
; Pied-Noir (plural Pieds-Noirs): lit. "black foot", a European Algerian in the pre-independence state.
; pied-à-terre (also pied à terre) : lit. "foot-on-the-ground"; a place to stay, generally small and applied to a secondary residence in a city.
; pince-nez: lit. "nose-pincher", a type of spectacles without temple arms.
; piste: lit. "trail" or "track"; often used referring to skiing at a ski area (on piste) versus skiing in the back country (off piste).
; wiktionary:plage, plage : beach, especially a fashionable seaside resort.
; plat du jour: lit. "dish of the day"; a dish served in a restaurant on a particular day but separate from the regular menu.
; wiktionary:plongeur, plongeur (fem. plongeuse): a male (or female) dishwasher in a professional kitchen.
; wiktionary:plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose (or ''plus ça change, plus c'est pareil'') (often abbreviated to just ''plus ça change''): the more things change, the more they stay the same. An aphorism coined by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr.
; point d'appui:a location where troops assemble prior to a battle. While this figurative meaning also exists in French, the first and literal meaning of ''point d'appui'' is a fixed point from which a person or thing executes a movement (such as a footing in climbing or a pivot).
;porte-cochère:an architectural term referring to a kind of porch or portico-like structure.
;poseur:lit. "poser": a person who pretends to be something he is not; an affected or insincere person; a wannabe.
;pot-au-feu:stew, soup.
; pour encourager les autres:lit. "to encourage others"; said of an excessive punishment meted out as an example, to deter others. The original is from
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
's ''Candide'' and referred to the execution of Admiral John Byng.
;wiktionary:pourboire, pourboire:lit. "for drink"; gratuity, tip; ''donner un pourboire'': to tip.
;prairie:lit. "meadow"; expansive natural meadows of long grass.
;prêt-à-porter:lit. "ready to wear"; clothing off the shelf, in contrast to ''
haute couture
''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...
''.
;prie-dieu:lit. "pray [to] God"; a type of prayer desk.
;prix fixe:lit. "fixed price"; a menu on which multi-course meals with only a few choices are charged at a fixed price.
;Mentorship, protégé (fem. protégée):lit. "protected"; a man/woman who receives support from an influential mentor.
;Polemic, provocateur:an agitator, a polemicist.
;purée:lit. a smooth, creamy substance made of liquidized or crushed fruit or vegetables.
Q
; Quai d'Orsay: address of the French foreign ministry 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 ...
, used to refer to the ministry itself.
; Quatorze juillet: "14th of July", usually called Bastille Day in English. The beginning of the French Revolution in 1789; used to refer to the Revolution itself and its ideals. It is the French National Day.
; quelle wikt:bonne, bonne wikt:idée, idée!: ''What a good idea!''
; quel wikt:dommage, dommage!: ''What a sad thing!'' (can be used sarcastically).
; quelle wikt:horreur, horreur!: ''What a horrible thing!'' (can be used sarcastically).
; quelle surprise!: ''What a surprising thing! (mostly used sarcastically)''
R
![Thickening](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Thickening.jpg)
; raconteur: a storyteller.
; wikt:raison d'être, raison d'être: "reason for being": justification or purpose of existence.
; rapprochement: the establishment of cordial relations, often used in diplomacy.
; reconnaissance: scouting, the military exploration outside an area that friendly forces occupy
; Renaissance: a historical period or cultural movement of rebirth
; refoulement: the expulsion of persons who have the right to be recognised as refugees.
; reportage: reporting; journalism.
; répondez s'il-vous-plaît. (RSVP (invitations), RSVP): ''Please reply''. Though francophones may use more usually "prière de répondre" or "je vous prie de bien vouloir répondre", it is common enough.
; wikt:restaurateur, restaurateur: a restaurant owner.
; Rive Gauche: the left (southern) bank (of the River Seine in Paris). A particular mindset attributed to inhabitants of that area, which includes the Sorbonne (building), Sorbonne
; roi fainéant: lit. "do-nothing king": an expression first used about the king of France, kings of France from 670 to 752 (Thierry III to Childeric III), who were puppets of their ministers. The term was later used about other royalty who had been made powerless, also in other countries, but lost its meaning when parliamentarism made all royals powerless.
; roman à clef: lit. "novel with a key": an account of actual persons, places or events in fictional guise.
; roué: an openly debauched, lecherous older man.
; roux: a cooked mixture of flour and melted butter (or other fat) used as a base in soups and gravies.
S
; Sacrebleu, sacre bleu: lit. "sacred blue": a dated French minced oath originating from the blasphemy, blasphemous "sacre dieu!" ("Holy god!"). Meant as a cry of surprise or happiness.
: French orthography is ''sacrebleu'' in one word.
; Sangfroid, sang-froid: lit. "cold blood": coolness and composure under strain; stiff upper lip. Also pejorative in the phrase ''meurtre de sang-froid'' ("cold-blooded murder").
; wikt:sans, sans: without.
; sans-culottes: lit. "without knee-breeches", a name the insurgent crowd in the streets of Paris gave to itself during the French Revolution, because they usually wore pantaloons (full-length pants or trousers) instead of the chic knee-length culotte of the nobles. In modern use: holding strong republican views.
; sauté : lit. "jumped", from the past participle of the verb sauter (to jump), which can be used as an adjective or a noun; quickly fried in a small amount of oil, stir-fried. ex: sauté of veau.
; Expert, savant: lit. "knowing": a wise or learned person; in English, one exceptionally gifted in a narrow skill.
; Savoir faire (disambiguation), savoir-faire: lit. "know how to do"; to respond appropriately to any situation.
; wikt:savoir-vivre, savoir-vivre: fact of following conventional norms within a society; etiquette (etiquette also comes from a French word, ''étiquette'').
; sobriquet: an assumed name, a nickname (often used in a pejorative way in French).
; wikt:soi-disant, soi-disant: lit. "oneself saying"; so-called; self-described.
; wikt:soigné, soigné: fashionable; polished.
; wikt:soirée, soirée: an evening party.
; sommelier: a wine steward.
; wikt:soupçon, soupçon: a very small amount. (In French, it can also mean "suspicion".)
; soupe du jour: lit. "soup of the day", the particular kind of soup offered that day.
; succès d'estime: lit. "success of esteem; critical success"; sometimes used pejoratively in English.
T
![Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 60006559 Tableau vivant voorstellende de Goudd](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Tropenmuseum_Royal_Tropical_Institute_Objectnumber_60006559_Tableau_vivant_voorstellende_de_Goudd.jpg)
; tableau: chalkboard. The meaning is broader in French: all types of board (chalkboard, whiteboard, notice board ...). Refers also to a painting (see tableau vivant, below) or a table (chart).
; tableau vivant: lit. "living picture"; the term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit.
; tenné: orange-brown, "rust" colour, not commonly used outside heraldic emblazoning.
; wiktionary:tête-à-tête, tête-à-tête: lit. "head to head"; an intimate get-together or private conversation between two people.
; toilette: the process of dressing or grooming. Also refers in French, when plural (''les toilettes''), to the toilet room.
; torsades de pointes: lit. "twisting around a point", used to describe a particular type of heart rhythm.
; touché: lit. "touched" or "hit!": acknowledgment of an effective counterpoint or verbal riposte; comes from terminology in the sport of
fencing
Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...
. In French has a broader meaning (touched) as "emotionally touched".
;
tour de force (also tour-de-force): lit. "feat of strength": a masterly or brilliant stroke, creation, effect, or accomplishment.
; tout court: lit. "all short": typically used in philosophy to mean "nothing else", in contrast to a more detailed or extravagant alternative. For instance, "Kant does not believe that morality derives from practical reason as applied to moral ends, but from practical reason tout court".
; tout de suite: right now, immediately. Often mangled as "toot sweet".
; tranche: lit. "slice": one of several different classes of securities involved a single financial transaction.
;triage:during a medical emergency or disaster, the process of determining the priority of medical treatment or transportation based on the severity of the patient's condition. In recent years, in British English usage, the term has also been used in the sense of ''to screen'' or ''address'' something at the point of contact, before it requires escalation.
![Trou-de-loup](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Trou-de-loup.png)
; tricoteuse: a woman who knits and gossips; from the women who knitted and sewed while watching executions of prisoners of the French Revolution.
; trompe-l'œil: lit. "trick the eye"; photographic realism in fine-art painting or decorative painting in a home.
; trou de loup: lit. "wolf hole"; a kind of booby trap.
; trousseau:
# The Wardrobe (clothing), wardrobe of a bride, including the wedding dress or similar clothing, or the bride's belongings
# A dowry
# A hope chest, glory box or its contents
V
; wikt:va-et-vient, va-et-vient: lit. "goes and comes"; the continual coming and going of people to and from a place.
; wikt:venue, venu(e):an invited man/woman for a show, or "one who has come"; the term is unused in modern French, though it can still be heard in a few expressions like ''bienvenu/e'' (literally "well come": welcome) or ''le premier venu'' (anyone; literally, "the first who came"). Almost exclusively used in modern English as a noun meaning the location where a meeting or event is taking place.
; vin de pays: lit. "country wine"; wine of a lower designated quality than ''appellation contrôlée''.
![Tomato Cucumber Salad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Tomato_Cucumber_Salad.jpg)
; vinaigrette: diminutive of ''vinaigre'' (vinegar): salad dressing of Vegetable oil, oil and vinegar.
; wikt:vis-à-vis, vis-à-vis (also vis-a-vis): lit. "face to face [with]": in comparison with or in relation to; opposed to. From ''wikt:vis#Old French, vis'', an obsolete word for "face", replaced by ''visage'' in contemporary French. In French, this is also a real estate vocabulary word, meaning that your windows and your neighbours' are within sighting distance (more precisely, that you can see inside of their home).
; Vive, Viva, vive [...]!: "Long live ...!"; lit. "Live"; as in ''"Vive la France !"'', ''Vive la French Republic, République !'', ''French Resistance, Vive la Résistance !'', ''Vive le Canada !'', or ''Vive le Québec libre !'' (long live free Quebec, a Quebec sovereignty movement, sovereigntist slogan famously used by French President Charles de Gaulle in 1967 in Montreal). Unlike ''viva'' (Italian and Spanish) or ''vivat'' (Latin), it cannot be used alone; it needs a complement.
;wiktionary:vive la différence, vive la différence!: lit. "[long] live the difference"; originally referring to the Sex differences in humans, difference between the sexes; the phrase may be also used to celebrate the difference between any two groups of people (or simply the general diversity of individuals).
; wiktionary:voilà, voilà !: lit. "see there"; in French it can mean simply "there it is"; in English it is generally restricted to a triumphant revelation.
; volte-face: frenchified form of Italian ''volta faccia'', lit. "turn face", an about-face, a maneuver in marching; figuratively, a complete reversal of opinion or position.
; Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?, voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?: "Do you want to sleep with me (tonight)?" or more appropriately, "Will you spend the night with me?" In French, ''coucher'' is vulgar in this sense. In English it appears in Tennessee Williams's play ''A Streetcar Named Desire (play), A Streetcar Named Desire'', as well as in the lyrics of a popular song by Labelle, "Lady Marmalade."
; Voyeurism, voyeur: lit. "someone who sees"; a Peeping Tom.
Z
; zut alors!: "Darn it!" or the British expression "Blimey!" This is a general exclamation (vulgar equivalent is ''merde alors !'' "Damn it!"). Just plain ''zut'' is also in use, often repeated for effect: ''zut, zut et zut !'' There is an album by Frank Zappa, punningly titled ''Zoot Allures''. The phrase is also used on the ''Saturday Night Live'' Weekend Update sketch by recurring character Jean K. Jean, played by Kenan Thompson as well as by John Goodman's Dan Conner in an episode of ''Roseanne'' when Roseanne dresses up in a sexy outfit and has a ''boudoir'' photo taken of her as a birthday gift for her husband.
Not used as such in French
Through the evolution of the language, many words and phrases are no longer used in modern French. Also there are expressions that, even though grammatically correct, do not have the same meaning in French as the English words derived from them. Some older word usages still appear in Quebec French.
; wikt:à la mode, à la mode:fashionable; in the US it also describes a dessert with ice cream (as in "Pie à la Mode, apple pie à la mode") or, in some US regions, with cheese. In French, it mainly means "fashionable", "trendy", but is occasionally a culinary term usually meaning something cooked with carrots and onions (as in ''bœuf à la mode''). It can also mean "in the style or manner [of]" (as in ''tripes à la mode de Caen''), and in this acceptation is similar to the shorter expression "wikt::à la, à la". The
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
meaning and usage is the same as in French.
; accoutrement: personal military or fighting armaments worn about one's self; has come to mean the accompanying items available to pursue a mission, or just accessories in general. In French, means a funny or ridiculous clothing; often a weird disguise or a getup, though it can be said also for people with bad taste in clothing.
; appliqué: an inlaid or attached decorative feature. Lit. "applied", though this meaning does not exist as such in French. However "appliqué inversé" exists and has the same meaning as a reverse appliqué. Also an "applique murale" is a decorative Sconce (light fixture), light fixture attached on a wall.
; après-ski: lit. "after skiing", socializing after a ski session; in French, this word refers to boots used to walk in snow (e.g. MoonBoots). Commonly used for the same thing as in English in Quebec.
; Fencing terms#Blade Work, arrêt à bon temps: A counterattack that attempts to take advantage of an uncertain attack in
fencing
Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...
. Though grammatically correct, this expression is not used in French. The term ''arrêt'' exists in fencing, with the meaning of a "simple counteroffensive action"; the general meaning is "a stop". A related French expression: ''s'arrêter à temps'' (to stop in time).
; wikt:artiste, artiste: a skilled performer, a person with artistic pretensions. In French: an artist. Can be used ironically for a person demonstrating little professional skill or passion in both languages.
; wikt:au naturel, au naturel: nude; in French, literally, in a natural manner or way (''au'' is the contraction of ''à le'', masculine form of ''à la''). It means "in an unaltered way" and can be used either for people or things. For people, it rather refers to a person who does not use make-up or artificial manners (''un entretien au naturel'' = a backstage interview). For things, it means that they have not been altered. Often used in cooking, like ''thon au naturel'': canned tuna without any spices or oil. Also in heraldry, meaning "in natural colours", especially flesh colour, which is not one of the "standard" colours of heraldry.
; auteur: A film director, specifically one who controls most aspects of a film, or other controller of an artistic situation. The English connotation derives from French film theory. It was popularized in the journal ''Cahiers du cinéma'': auteur theory maintains that directors like Hitchcock exert a level of creative control equivalent to the author of a literary work. In French, the word means "author", but some expressions like ''cinéma d'auteur'' are also in use.
; wikt:bête noire, bête noire: a scary or unpopular person, idea, or thing, or the archetypal scary monster in a story; literally "black beast." In French, ''être la bête noire de quelqu'un'' ("to be somebody's black beast") means that you're particularly hated by this person or this person has a strong aversion against you, regardless of whether you're scary or not. The dictionary of the Académie française admits its use only for people, though other dictionaries admit it for things or ideas too. It also means that one is repeatedly defeated by a person, who is thus considered their archenemy (for instance, "Nadal is the bête noire of Roger Federer").
; boutique: a clothing store, usually selling designer/one off pieces rather than mass-produced clothes. Can also describe a quirky and/or upmarket hotel. In French, it can describe any shop, clothing or otherwise. The expression ''hôtel-boutique'' can be used to refer to upmarket hotels, but the word is recent and not as widespread as the equivalent expression boutique hotel.
; boutonnière: In English, a boutonnière is a flower placed in the buttonhole of a suit jacket. In French, a boutonnière is the buttonhole itself. Yet the French expression "Une fleur à la boutonnière" has an equivalent meaning.
; c'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre: "it is magnificent, but it is not war" — quotation from Pierre Bosquet, Marshal Pierre Bosquet commenting on the charge of the Light Brigade. Unknown quotation in French.
; wikt:cause célèbre, cause célèbre: An issue arousing widespread controversy or heated public debate, lit. 'famous cause'. It is correct grammatically, but the expression is not used in French.
; chacun à son goût: the correct expressions in French are ''chacun ses goûts / à chacun ses goûts / à chacun son goût'': "to each his/her own taste(s)".
; chanson: a classical "art song", equiv. to the German ''Lied'' or the Italian ''aria''; or, in Russian, a :ru:Шансон, cabaret-style sung narrative, usually rendered by a guttural male voice with guitar accompaniment. In French, it can be used to refer to any song, but it also refers to the same music genre as in English (someone practicing this genre being generally called a ''chansonnier'' in Quebec, especially if they sing at a restaurant or cabaret).
; château: a manor house or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions. The word château is also used for castles in French, so where clarification is needed, the term château fort ("strong castle") is used to describe a castle.
; chef: in English, a person who cooks professionally for other people. In French the word means "head" or "chief"; a professional cook is a ''cuisinier'' (lit. "cook"), ''chef-cuisinier'' referring to a head cook. Also, sous-chef, the second-in-command, directly under the head chef. Traditionally, ''chef'' used to means the head, for example a "couvre-chef" is a headgear, but by extension it's often used in job titles, military ranks, for a person in charge or who leads a group of people: "chef d'État" (lit. "Head of State" and "Chief of State"), "chef d'entreprise" ("Business executive"), "chef d'orchestre" (Conductor of an Orchestra), "sergeant-chef" (Staff Sergeant), "chef de gare" (stationmaster), "chef de famille" (head of household), etc. More casually in a work context, a ''chef'' is a boss.
; cinq à sept: extraconjugal affair between five and seven pm. In French, though it can also mean this, it primarily means any relaxing time with friends between the end of work and the beginning of the marital obligations. In Quebec French, it is also used as a synonym for "Happy Hour" by bars and restaurants that serve discounted drinks after working hours.
; claque: a group of admirers; in French, "la claque" is a group of people paid to applaud or disturb a piece at the theatre, though the common meaning of "claque" is "a slap"; ''clique'' is used in this sense (but in a pejorative way).
; connoisseur: an expert in wines, fine arts, or other matters of culture; a person of refined taste. It is spelled ''connaisseur'' in modern French (lit. "someone who knows").
; corsage: A bouquet of flowers worn on a woman's dress or worn around her wrist. In French, it refers to a woman's chest (from shoulder to waist) and, by extension, the part of a woman's garment that covers this area.
;
coup de main
A ''coup de main'' (; plural: ''coups de main'', French for blow with the hand) is a swift attack that relies on speed and surprise to accomplish its objectives in a single blow.
Definition
The United States Department of Defense defines it as ...
(pl. coups de main): a surprise attack. In French, ''[donner] un coup de main'' means "[to give] a hand" (to give assistance). Even if the English meaning exists as well (as in ''faire le coup de main''), it is old-fashioned.
;
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
(pl. coups d'état):a sudden change in government by force; literally "hit (blow) of state." French uses the capital É, because the use of a capital letter alters the meaning of the word (État: a State, as in a country; état: a state of being). It also cannot be shortened as ''coup'' as is often the case in English- because this literally means a "hit" in French, but can be used figuratively to mean many more things.
; wiktionary:début, début:first public performance of an entertainment personality or group. In French, it means "beginning." The English meaning of the word exists only when in the plural form: ''[faire] ses débuts [sur scène]'' (to make one's débuts on the stage). The English meaning and usage also extends to sports to denote a player who is making their first appearance for a team or at an event.
;
décolletage
Cleavage is the narrow depression or hollow between the breasts of a woman. The superior portion of cleavage may be accentuated by clothing such as a low-cut neckline that exposes the division, and often the term is used to describe the low neck ...
: a low-cut neckline, cleavage. In French it means: 1. action of lowering a female garment's neckline; 2. Agric.: cutting leaves from some cultivated roots such as beets, carrots, etc.; 3. Tech. Operation consisting of making screws, bolts, etc. one after another out of a single bar of metal on a parallel lathe. A low-cut neckline, or its shape, would in French be called ''un décolleté'' (noun and adjective): ''un décolleté profond'', a deep décolletage; ''une robe très décolletée'', a dress with very low neckline.
; Demarche, démarche: a decisive step. In French, it means a preparing step (often used in the plural form), a specific set of steps to get a specific result (can be used in the singular form, sometimes the expression "marche à suivre" (lit. "step to follow") will be preferred), or a distinctive way of walking.
;
dépanneur
A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
: a neighbourhood general/convenience store, term used in eastern Canada (often shortened to ''dép'' or ''dep''). This term is commonly used in Canadian French; however, in France, it means a repairman or tow truck operator. In France, a convenience store would be a ''supérette'' or ''épicerie [de quartier]''.
; émigré: one who has emigrated for political reasons. French also use the word ''exilé'' (exiled) or ''réfugié'' (refugee) or even "exilé politique" or "réfugié politique".
; encore (concert), encore: A request to repeat a performance, as in ''Encore!'', lit. 'again'; also used to describe additional songs played at the end of a concert, gig. Francophones would say « Une autre ! » ('Another one!') or «Bis !» to request « un rappel » or « un bis ».
; wiktionary:en masse, en masse: in a mass or group, all together. In French, ''masse'' refers only to a physical mass, whether for people or objects. It cannot be used for something immaterial, like, for example, the voice: "they all together said 'get out'" would be translated as ''ils ont dit 'dehors' en chœur'' ([like a chorus]). Also, ''en masse'' refers to numerous people or objects (a crowd or a mountain of things). In colloquial Québécois French, it means "a bunch" (as in ''il y avait du monde en masse'', "there was a bunch of people").
; en suite:as a set (not to be confused with ''ensuite'', meaning "then"). Can refer, in particular, to hotel rooms with attached private bathroom, especially in Britain where hotels without private facilities are more common than in North America. In French, ''suite'', when in the context of a hotel, already means several rooms following each other. ''J'ai loué une suite au Ritz'' would be translated as "I rented a suite at the Ritz." ''En suite'' is not grammatically incorrect in French, but it is not an expression in itself and it is not used. Also used in
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
to denote a bathroom that is accessible directly from the Bedroom, master bedroom of a house (usually with a connecting door), rather than by a separate entrance.
;
entrée
An entrée (, ; ) in modern French table service and that of much of the English-speaking world (apart from the United States and parts of Canada) is a dish served before the main course of a meal. Outside North America, it is generally synony ...
: lit. "entrance"; in French, the first dish that starts a meal, i.e. the entrance to the meal. It can refer to a set of bites or small snacks, or a small dish served before a main course. The main dish or "plat de résistance" comes after the entrée. In American English, the meaning has migrated to "main dish". In other varieties of English it maintains its French meaning.
; épée: a fencing weapon descended from the duelling sword. In French, apart from fencing (the sport) the term is more generic: it means sword.
; escritoire: a writing table. It is spelt ''écritoire'' in modern French.
; Exposé (journalism), exposé: a published exposure of a fraud or scandal (past participle of "to expose"); in French refers to a talk or a report on any kind of subject.
; femme: a stereotypically effeminate gay man or lesbian (slang, pronounced as written). In French, ''femme'' (pronounced 'fam') means "woman."
; fin de siècle: comparable to (but not exactly the same as) turn-of-the-century but with a connotation of decadence, usually applied to the period from 1890 through 1910. In French, it means "end of the century", but it isn't a recognized expression as such. The French expression "ambiance [de] fin de règne" (lit. "end-of-reign atmosphere") also has a light connotation of boredom and decadence.
;
forte
Forte or Forté may refer to:
Music
*Forte (music), a musical dynamic meaning "loudly" or "strong"
*Forte number, an ordering given to every pitch class set
*Forte (notation program), a suite of musical score notation programs
*Forte (vocal gro ...
: a strength, a strong point, typically of a person, from the French ''fort(e)'' (strong) and/or Italian ''forte'' (strong, esp. "loud" in music) and/or Latin ''forte'' (neuter form of ''fortis'', strong). French uses ''fort(e)'' for both people and objects.
: According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, "In ''forte'' we have a word derived from French that in its "strong point" sense has no entirely satisfactory pronunciation. Usage writers have denigrated \'for-"tA\ and \'for-tE\ because they reflect the influence of the Italian-derived ''forte''. Their recommended pronunciation \'fort\, however, does not exactly reflect French either: the French would write the word ''le fort'' and would rhyme it with English ''for'' [French doesn't pronounce the final "t"]. All are standard, however. In British English \'fo-"tA\ and \'fot\ predominate; \'for-"tA\ and \for-'tA\ are probably the most frequent pronunciations in American English."
: The New Oxford Dictionary of English derives it from fencing. In French, ''le fort d'une épée'' is the third of a blade nearer the hilt, the strongest part of the sword used for parrying.
; hors d'oeuvre: term used for the snacks served with drinks before a meal. Literally "outside of the work". The French use ''apéritif'' to refer to the time before a meal and the drinks consumed during that time, yet "hors d'œuvre" is a synonym of "entrée" in French and means the first dish that starts a meal. At home in family circles it means more specifically seasoned salads taken as a starter. In Québécois French, ''apéritif'' refers to the drink only, and ''hors-d'œuvre'' (usually plural) refers to a set of bites, while an ''entrée'' is a small dish (an ''entrée'' can be made as ''hors-d'œuvres'', but not all of them are).
; la sauce est tout: "The sauce is everything!" or "The secret's in the sauce!" Tagline used in a 1950s American television commercial campaign for an American line of canned food products. Grammatically correct but not used in French, where one might say ''Tout est dans la sauce'' or ''C'est la sauce qui fait (passer) le poisson''.
; :wiktionary:fr:fr:lavatoire, Lavatoire or Toilet (room), Lavatory: A once commonly used British term for a toilet or water closet. Before the age of the internet, it was commonly believed, and widely taught in schools in Britain, that the word Toilet was a rather vulgar, impure, corruption of the French word ":fr:Toilettes, Toilettes" and that Lavatory was the correct expression to use because it was much closer in meaning to the French the word it was derived from, "Lavatoire", which was supposed to mean "to wash, or to clean, yourself". Actually, though the word Lavatoire does exist in French, it never meant a toilet or a bathroom. The Lavatoire was the holy stone upon which the bodies of ecclesiastics, priest and members of the clergy, were once washed after their deaths, in order to prepare them for the afterlife, for their journey to heaven.
; Marquee (sign), marquee:the sign above a theater that tells you what is playing. From ''marquise'', which means not only a marchioness but also an awning. Theater buildings are generally old and nowadays there is never such a sign above them; there is only the advertisement for the play (''l'affiche''). In English, means a temporary structure (often made of canvas or similar material) which is erected to host an event outdoors, especially in the UK, where such events can often be affected by weather conditions (pronounced ''mar-key'').
; : "yearning for the mud"; attraction to what is unworthy, crude or degrading. Though grammatically correct, it is not used in French.
; objet trouvé: an ordinary object, such as a piece of driftwood, a shell, or a manufactured article, that is treated as an ''objet d'art'' because it is aesthetically pleasing. In French, ''les objets trouvés'', short for ''le bureau des objets trouvés'', means the lost-and-found, the lost property.
; wikt:outré, outré: out of the ordinary, unusual. In French, it means outraged (for a person) or exaggerated, extravagant, overdone (for a thing, esp. a praise, an actor's style of acting, etc.); in that second meaning, belongs to "literary" style.
; passé: out of fashion. The correct expression in French is ''passé de mode.'' Passé means past, passed, or (for a colour) faded.
; peignoir: a woman's dressing gown. It means bathrobe. In French, both ''peignoir'' and ''robe de chambre'' are used interchangeably for a dressing gown regardless of sex, though the latter is generally considered formal and the former is generally seen as colloquial. A bathrobe (for either sex, in absorbent material) is ''un peignoir de bain''.
; pièce d'occasion: "occasional piece"; item written or composed for a special occasion. In French, it means "second-hand hardware." Can be shortened as ''pièce d'occas'' or even ''occas'' (pronounced /okaz/).
; Portmanteau, portemanteau (pl. portemanteaux):in English a portmanteau is a large piece of luggage for clothes that opens (like a book or a diptych) into two parts. From this literal sense, Lewis Carroll, in his novel ''Through the Looking Glass'' playfully coined a further Literal and figurative language, figurative sense for portmanteau meaning a word that fuses two or more words or parts of words to give a combined meaning. In French, lit. a 'coat-carrier', originally a person who carried the royal coat or dress train, now a large suitcase; more often, a clothes hanger. The equivalent of the English/ Lewis-Carroll ''portemanteau'' is ''un mot-valise'' (lit. a suitcase word). "Brexit" and "emoticon" are modern examples of portmanteau words.
; potpourri: medley, mixture; French write it ''pot-pourri'', literally 'rotten pot': primarily a pot in which different kinds of flowers or spices are put to dry for years for the scent.
; wikt:précis, précis: a concise summary. In French, when talking about a school course, it means an abridged book about the matter. Literally, ''précis'' means precise, accurate.
; première: refers to the first performance of a play, a film, etc. "La première" is used in same way in French, but it more generally means "the first".
; wikt:raisonneur, raisonneur: a type of author intrusion in which a writer inserts a character to argue the author's viewpoint; alter ego, sometimes called 'author avatar'. In French, a ''raisonneur'' is a character in a play who stands for morality and reason, i.e., not necessarily the author's point of view. The first meaning of this word though is a man (fem. ''raisonneuse'') who overdoes reasonings, who tires by objecting with numerous arguments to every order.
; wikt:recherché, recherché: lit. searched; obscure; pretentious. In French, means 'sophisticated' or 'delicate', or simply 'studied', without the negative connotations of the English.
; wikt:rendezvous, rendezvous: lit. "present yourself" or "proceed to"; a meeting, appointment, or date in French. In English, it generally endorses a mysterious overtone and refers to a one-on-one meeting with someone for another purpose than a date. Always hyphenated in French: ''rendez-vous''. Its only accepted abbreviation in French is RDV.
; reprise:repetition of previous music in a suite, programme, etc. and also applied to an actor who resumes a role that they have played previously. In French, it may mean an alternate version of a piece of music, or a cover version, or the rebroadcast of a show, piece or movie that was originally broadcast a while ago (although the term ''rediffusion'' is generally preferred, especially when talking about something on television). To express the repetition of a previous musical theme, French would exclusively use the Italian term Coda (music), coda.
; résumé: in North American English, a document listing one's qualifications for employment. In French, it means summary; French speakers would use instead ''curriculum vitæ'', or its abbreviation, C.V. (like most other English speakers).
; wikt:risqué, risqué (also risque): sexually suggestive; in French, the meaning of ''risqué'' is "risky", with no sexual connotation. Francophones use instead ''osé'' (lit. "daring") or sometimes ''dévergondé'' (very formal language). ''Osé'', unlike ''dévergondé'', cannot be used for people themselves, only for things (such as pictures) or attitudes.
; ''rouge'' (lit. "red") : 1) a rouge (cosmetics), rouge is red makeup, also called blusher. ''Rouge à lèvres'' is French for "lipstick", even if the lipstick is not red at all. The French equivalent to the English meaning is "fard à joues"; 2) in Canadian football, a Single (football), rouge is awarded when the ball is kicked into the end zone by any legal means, other than a successful field goal, and the receiving team does not return or kick the ball out of its end zone.
; séance : a gathering, usually using a 'medium', attempting to communicate with the dead. In French, the word means 'sitting' and usually refers to any kind of meeting or session.
; table d'hôte (pl. tables d'hôte): in English, when used it usually refers to type of meal: a full-course meal offered at a fixed price. However, in French, it refers to a type of lodging: the closest English equivalent would be "a bed & breakfast" or "B&B." The origin of the meaning (for French speakers) is that at a table d'hôte (literally "table of the house" or "table of the host"), unlike at a full-service purpose-built hotel, all patrons eat together at the host's table, whatever the family have prepared for themselves (typically traditional regional dishes). Indeed, in France today a lodging labeled "table d'hôte" might perhaps not even offer food; the appellation meaning what an English-speaker would think of as a "bed & breakfast -style" family-home lodging (as opposed to a purpose-built hotel). In Quebec, ''table d'hôte'' generally has the same meaning as in English, the expression ''couette et café'' (lit. "duvet and coffee") is generally used to talk about B&B style accommodations, where the English expression is not used.
; tableau vivant (pl. tableaux vivants, often shortened as ''tableau''): in drama, a scene where actors remain motionless as if in a picture. ''Tableau'' means painting, ''tableau vivant'', living painting. In French, it is an expression used in body painting.
; touché: acknowledgment of an effective counterpoint. In French, used for "emotionally touched".
; Vignette (literature), vignette: a brief description; a short scene. In French, it is a small picture or a thumbnail. By extension a Vignette (road tax), vignette is the name of a compulsory road tax in the form of a small sticker affixed to a vehicle windscreen, which is now also used in several European countries.
Found only in English
; aide-de-camp: "camp assistant"; in the army, a military assistant to a senior military officer (heads of State are considered military officers because of their status as head of the army). In Canada, it may also refer to the honorary position a person holds as a personal assistant to a high civil servant. It exists in French too but is written ''aide de camp'' (without any hyphens).
; apprise: "to inform"; used to substitute the verb ''to inform'' when the information is crucial. Its French meaning is the feminine past participle of ''to learn'' [apprendre]. In English, when followed by an object it is used with the preposition ''of''. Example without object: ''Please, apprise me''. Example with object: ''he apprised of it''.
; cinquefoil: five-petal, five-leaf flower of the genus Potentilla, family Rosaceae; also a circular 5-lobed ornamental design. Spelled ''quintefeuille'' in French.
; wiktionary:cri du coeur, cri de cœur: "cry from the heart": an impassioned outcry, as of entreaty or protest. In French, the exact expression is ''cri du cœur''.
; demi-monde: a class of women of ill repute; a fringe group or subculture. Fell out of use in the French language in the 19th century. Frenchmen still use ''une demi-mondaine'' to qualify a woman that lives (exclusively or partially) off the commerce of her charms but in a high-life style.
; double entendre: a figure of speech wherein a word or phrases can be taken to have two distinct coherent meanings, most often in a fashion that is suggestive and/or ironic. "Entendre" is an infinitive verb ("to hear"), not a noun; a correct rendering would be "à double entente", an adjectival phrase meaning "of a double understanding or double interpretation" (literally, "with a double hearing"). The modern French phrase is "à double sens".
; wikt:in lieu, in lieu (of): "in place (of)"; partially translated from the existing French phrase ''au lieu (de)''.
; legerdemain, léger de main (legerdemain): "light of hand": sleight of hand, usually in the context of deception or the art of stage magic tricks. Meaningless in French; the equivalent is ''un tour de passe-passe''.
; maître d':translates literally as ''master o. The French term for head waiter (the manager of the service side of a restaurant) is ''maître d'hôtel'' (literally "master of the house" or "master of the establishment"); French never uses "d stand-alone. Most often used in American English and its usage in the UK is rare.
; negligée:A robe or a dressing gown, usually of sheer or soft fabric for women, or a nightdress. As with lingerie, the usage of the word suggests the garment is alluring or fancy. French uses ''négligé'' (masculine form) or ''nuisette''. In French, the word ''négligée'' qualifies a woman who neglects her appearance.
; succès de scandale: "Success through scandal"; Francophones might use ''succès par médisance''.
; voir dire: a trial within a trial, or (in America) jury selection (Law French). Literally "to speak the truth." (
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to:
*Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066
* Anglo-Norman language
**Anglo-Norman literature
* Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...
''voir'' [''truth''] is etymologically unrelated to the modern French ''voir'' [''to see''].)
voir
The Anglo-Norman Dictionary In modern American court procedure, the examination of prospective jurors for their qualification to serve, including inherent biases, views and predelictions; during this examination, each prospective juror must "speak the truth" so that counsel and the court may decide whether they should remain on the jury or be excused. In England and Wales, the expression is used to refer to a "trial within a trial", during which a judge hears evidence in the absence of the jury, typically to decide whether a certain piece of evidence should be allowed to be presented to the jury or not. For example, a judge might hold a "voir dire" to determine whether a confession has been extracted from a defendant by an unfair inducement in order to decide whether the jury should hear evidence of the confession or not.
French phrases in international air-sea rescue
International authorities have adopted a number of words and phrases from French for use by speakers of all languages in voice communications during air-sea rescues. Note that the "phonetic" versions of spelling are presented as shown and not the Help:IPA, IPA.
; Securité, SECURITAY: (''sécurité'', "safety") the following is a safety message or warning, the lowest level of danger.
; Pan-pan, PAN PAN: (''panne'', "breakdown") the following is a message concerning a danger to a person or ship, the next level of danger.
; Mayday (distress signal), MAYDAY: (''[venez] m'aider'', come to help me"; ''aidez-moi'' means "help me") the following is a message of extreme urgency, the highest level of danger. ''(MAYDAY is used on voice channels for the same uses as SOS on Morse code, Morse channels.)''
; Seelonce, SEELONCE: (''silence'', "silence") keep this channel clear for air-sea rescue communications.
; SEELONCE FEE NEE: (''silence fini'', "silence is over") this channel is now available again.
; PRU DONCE: (''prudence'', "prudence") silence partially lifted, channel may be used again for urgent non-distress communication.
; MAY DEE CAL: (''médical'', "medical") medical assistance needed.
It is a serious breach in most countries, and in international zones, to use any of these phrases without justification.
''See Mayday (distress signal) for a more detailed explanation.''
See also
* Glossary of ballet, which is predominantly French
* Glossary of fencing, which are often in French
* Franglais
* French language
* Law French
* List of English words of French origin, English words of French origin
* List of pseudo-French words adapted to English, Pseudo-Gallicisms
* List of German expressions in English, German expressions in English
* List of Greek phrases, Greek phrases
* List of Latin phrases, Latin phrases
* List of Latin words with English derivatives, Latin words with English derivatives
* List of French loanwords in Persian, French loanwords in Persian
References
Further reading
* Francoise Blanchard, Jeremy Leven. ''Say Chic: A Collection of French Words We Can't Live Without''. Simon and Schuster. 2007. 144 pages
* Winokur, J., ''Je Ne Sais What?: A Guide to'' de rigueur ''Frenglish for Readers, Writers, and Speakers''
External links
''Communications Instructions, Distress and Rescue Procedures'' (pdf)
Combined Communications Electronics Board, Combined Communications-Electronics Board
''Online Etymology Dictionary''
, Harper, D.
*
(John Aldrich, University of Southampton) See Section on Contribution of French.
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of French Words And Phrases Used By English Speakers
Lists of phrases, French
French words and phrases,
Lists of English words of French origin,