List of French phrases

Here are some examples of French words and phrases used by English speakers.

English contains many words of French origin, such as art, competition, force, machine, police, publicity, role, routine, table, and many other anglicized French words. These are pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French. Around 28% of English vocabulary is of French or Oïl language origin, most derived from, or transmitted by, 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 English.

This article, however, covers words and phrases that generally entered the lexicon later, as through literature, the arts, diplomacy, and other cultural exchanges not involving conquests. As such, they have not lost their character as Gallicisms, or words that seem unmistakably foreign and "French" to an English speaker.

The phrases are given as used in English, and may seem correct modern French to English speakers, but may not be recognized as such by French speakers as many of them are now defunct or have drifted in meaning. A general rule is that, if the word or phrase retains French diacritics or is usually printed in italics, it has retained its French identity.

Few of these phrases are common knowledge to all English speakers, and for some English speakers most are rarely if ever used in daily conversation, but for other English speakers many of them are a routine part of both their conversational and their written vocabulary. They may however possibly be used more often in written than in spoken English.

Contents

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Not used as such in French — Found only in English — French phrases in international air-sea rescue — See also — References

Used in English and French

A

à gogo: in abundance. In French this is colloquial.

à la […]: in the manner of/in the style of […]^[1]

à la carte: lit. "on the menu"; In restaurants it refers to ordering individual dishes rather than a fixed-price meal.

à la mode: idiomatic: in the style; In the United States, the phrase is used to describe a dessert with an accompanying scoop of ice cream (example: apple pie à la mode). In French, it also means trendy. Boeuf à la mode for instance is a beef recipe with ale, carrots and onions.

à propos: regarding/concerning (note that the correct French syntax is à propos de)

abattoir: slaughterhouse

accouchement: confinement during childbirth; the process of having a baby; only this latter meaning remains in French

acquis communautaire: used in European Union law to refer to the total body of EU law accumulated thus far.

adieu: lit. "to God"; farewell; it carries more weight than au revoir ("goodbye," literally "until re-seeing"). It is definitive, implying you will never see the other person again. Depending on the context, misuse of this term can be considered as an insult, as one may wish for the other person's death or say that you do not wish to see the other person ever again while alive. It is used for au revoir in the south of France^[2] and to denote a deprivation from someone or something.

aide-mémoire: lit. "memory aid"; an object or memorandum to assist in remembrance, or a diplomatic paper proposing the major points of discussion

Allons-y!: "Let's go!"

amour propre: "Self-love", Self-respect.

amuse-bouche 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 vulgar), although the expression in itself is not vulgar (see also: cul-de-sac).

ancien régime: 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)

aperçu: preview; a first impression; initial insight.

apéritif or aperitif: lit. "[drink] opening the appetite", a before-meal drink.^[3] 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

après moi, le déluge: lit. "After me, the deluge", a remark attributed to Louis XV 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's après nous, le déluge, "after us, the deluge". The Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, famously known as the "Dambusters", uses this as its motto.

arête: a narrow ridge. In French, also fishbone; edge of a polyhedron or graph; bridge of the nose.

armoire: a type of cabinet; wardrobe.

arrière-pensée: ulterior motive; concealed thought, plan, or motive.

art nouveau: a style of decoration and architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It takes a capital in French (Art nouveau).

attaché: 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, e.g. beat, expulsion, pressure.

au contraire: on the contrary.

au courant: 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: 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 slang être au jus (to be informed).

au pair: 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).

avant-garde (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."

avoirdupois: used in Middle English, avoir de pois = commodities sold by weight, alteration of Old French aveir de peis = goods of weight

B

baguette: a long, narrow loaf of bread with a crisp crust, often called 'French bread' in the United Kingdom and United States. In French, a "baguette" is any long and narrow, stick-like object.

ballet: a type of performance dance, best known for its flowing and precise acrobatic movements and for featuring female dancers on their toes.

banquette: a long upholstered bench or a sofa.

beau geste: 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.^[4]

Beaux-Arts: monumental architectural style of the early 20th century made famous by the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

bel esprit (pl. beaux esprits): lit. "fine mind"; a cultivated, highly intelligent person.

belle: a beautiful woman or girl. Common uses of this word are in the phrases the belle of the ball (the most beautiful woman or girl present at a function) and southern belle (a beautiful woman from the southern states of the US)

Belle Époque: a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I.

belles-lettres: 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 pensant: lit. "well thinking"; right thinking, orthodox. Commonly implies willful blindness to dangers or suffering faced by others. The noun form bien-pensance is rarely seen in English.

billet-doux: lit. "sweet note", love letter^[5]

blasé: unimpressed with something because of overfamiliarity, jaded.

bon appétit: lit. "good appetite"; enjoy your meal,

bon mot (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, 29 August – 4 September 1996)

bon vivant: one who enjoys the good life, an epicurean,

bon voyage: lit. "good journey"; have a good trip!

bourgeois: member of the bourgeoisie, originally shopkeepers living in towns in the Middle Ages. Now the term is derogatory, and it applies to a person whose beliefs, attitudes, and practices are conventionally middle-class.

bouquet: a bunch of flowers.

bric-à-brac: small ornamental objects, less valuable than antiques; a collection of old furniture, china, plates and curiosities. Cf. de bric et de broc, corresponding to our "by hook or by crook," and brack, refuse.

brioche: 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.

brunette: a brown-haired girl. For brown-haired man, French uses brun and for a woman brune. Brunette is rarely used in French, unless in old literature, and its masculine form brunet (for a boy) is almost unheard of.

bureau (pl. bureaux): office; originally meant "desk" in French.

C

ça ne fait rien: "that doesn't matter"; rendered as san fairy Ann in British World War I slang.^[6]

cache: a collection of items of the same type stored in a hidden or inaccessible place (such as in an oubliette)

cachet: lit. "stamp"; a distinctive quality; quality, prestige.

café: a coffee shop (also used in French for "coffee").

café au lait: 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: a copied term/thing.

canard: (1) unfounded rumor or anecdote. (2) a leading airfoil attached to an aircraft forward of the main wing. ('canard' means 'duck' in French; also a slang word for 'newspaper')

carte blanche: lit. "white card" (i.e. blank check); unlimited authority.

carte de visite: lit. "visiting card" ; a calling card.

c'est la vie!: "That's life!" or "Such is life!" or "It is what it is!" It is sometimes used as an expression to say that life is harsh but that one must accept it.

chaise longue: a long chair for reclining.

Champs-Élysées: lit. "Elysian Fields"; Avenue des Champs-Élysées, one of the broadest boulevards in Paris. Often referred to as simply les Champs.

chanteuse: a female singer.^[7]

chargé d'affaires: 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.

chauffeur: driver.

chef d'œuvre: a masterpiece.

cherchez la femme: "look for 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. First used by Alexandre Dumas (père) in the third chapter of his novel Les Mohicans de Paris (1854).

chez: at the house of: often used in the names of restaurants and the like; Chez Marie = "Marie's".

chic: stylish.

chignon: a hairstyle worn in a roll at the nape of the neck.

cinéma pur: an avant-garde film movement which was born in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s.

cinéma vérité: realism in documentary filmmaking.

cliché: originally referred to a printer's block used to reproduce type, compare the original meaning of stereotype. A phrase that has become trite through overuse; a stereotype.

clique: a small exclusive group of friends; always used in a pejorative way in French.

cloisonné: an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects.

commandant: a commanding officer. 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: lit. "communicated"; an official communication.

concierge: a receptionist at a hotel or residence.

concordat: 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^[8]

contre-coup: against the blow. This word describes the repercussion of a physical or mental shock, or an indirect consequence of an event.

contre-jour: 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 sanitaire: a policy of containment directed against a hostile entity or ideology; a chain of buffer states; lit. "quarantine line".

corniche: 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.

coup de grâce: 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 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.^[9]

coup d'œil: lit. "a blow (or touch) of the eye"; a glance.

couture: fashion (usually refers to high fashion).

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: 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.^[10]

crème brûlée: lit. "burnt cream"; a dessert consisting primarily of custard and toasted sugar, that is, caramel.

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: 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 thin sweet or savoury pancake eaten as a light meal or dessert.

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: a critical analysis or evaluation of a work, or the art of criticizing.

croissant: a crescent-shaped bread made of flaky pastry.

cul-de-sac: lit. "arse [buttocks] of the bag"; a dead-end street. Even though cul is vulgar in French, this expression in itself is not (see also amuse-gueule). Equivalent terms impasse or voie sans issue are also used in French.

D

de rigueur: required or expected, especially in fashion or etiquette.^[11]

déclassé: of inferior social status.

décolleté: 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 is dealt with below.

décor: the layout and furnishing of a room.

découpage: decoration with cut paper.

dépôt: a deposit (as in geology or banking), a storehouse, or a transportation hub (bus depot).

demi-glace: a reduced wine-based sauce for meats and poultry.

demi-sec: semi-dry, usually said of wine.

déjà vu: lit. "already seen": an impression or illusion of having seen or experienced something before.

dénouement: lit. "untying": the resolution of a narrative.

dérailleur: 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: easing of diplomatic tension.

digestif: a digestive aid, esp., an after-dinner drink, as brandy.^[12]

directeur sportif: 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.^[13] 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: the senior member of a group; the feminine is doyenne.^[14] Also dean (of faculty, or medecine).

dressage: a form of competitive horse training, in French has the broader meaning of taming any kind of animal.

droit du seigneur: lit. "right of the lord": the purported right of a lord in feudal times to take the virginity of one of his vassals' 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 .^[15]

E

eau de Cologne: a type of perfume, originating in Cologne. Its Italian creator used a French name to commercialize it, Cologne at that time being under the control of France.

eau de toilette: 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: lit. "water of life" (cf Aquavit and whisky), a type of fruit brandy.

écarté: a card game; also a ballet position.

échappé: dance movement foot position.

éclair: a cream and chocolate icing pastry.

éclat: great brilliance, as of performance or achievement. Conspicuous success. Great acclamation or applause.

écorché: flayed; biological graphic or model with skin removed.

élan: a distinctive flair or style.

élan vital: lit. "vital ardor"; the vital force hypothesized by Henri Bergson as a source of efficient causation and evolution in nature; also called "life-force"

éminence grise: lit. "grey eminence": a publicity-shy person with little formal power but great influence over those in authority.

en banc: court hearing of the entire group of judges instead of a subset panel.

en bloc: as a group.

en garde: "[be] on [your] guard," used in fencing, and sometimes mistranscribed as "on guard."

en passant: in passing; term used in chess.

en pointe: (in ballet) on tiptoe. 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: on the way

enfant terrible: lit. "terrible child;" a disruptively unconventional person.

ennui: boredom.

entente: diplomatic agreement or cooperation. L'Entente cordiale (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: lit. "entrance"; the first course of a meal (UK English); used to denote the main dish or course of a meal (US English).

entremets: desserts/sweet dishes. More literally, a side dish that can be served between the courses of a meal.

entrepreneur: a person who undertakes and operates a new enterprise or venture and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks.

embonpoint: a plump, hourglass figure.

escargot: snail.

esprit de corps: lit. "spirit of the body [group]": 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. Very rarely used in French.

l'État, c'est moi!: lit. "I am the state!" — attributed to the archetypal absolute monarch, Louis XIV of France.

étude: a musical composition designed to provide practice in a particular technical skill in the performance of an instrument. French for "study."

étui: small ornamental case for needles or cosmetics.

excusez-moi: "Excuse me".

extraordinaire: extraordinary, usually as a following adjective, as "musician extraordinaire."

F

façade: the front view of an edifice (from the Italian facciata, or face); a fake persona, as in "putting on a façade" (the ç is pronounced like an s)

fait accompli: lit. "accomplished fact"; something that has already happened and is thus unlikely to be reversed, a done deal.^[16] In French used only in the expression placer/mettre quelqu'un devant le fait accompli meaning to present somebody with a fait accompli.

faute de mieux: for want of better.

faux: false, ersatz, fake.

faux pas: lit. "false step": violation of accepted, although unwritten, social rules.^[17]

femme fatale: 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.^[18]

feuilleton: 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: Lit. "black film": a genre of dark-themed movies from the 1940s and 1950s that focus on stories of crime and immorality.

fils: lit. "son": used after a man's surname to distinguish a son from a father, as George Bush fils.

flambé: 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: a gentleman stroller of city streets; an aimless idler.

fleur-de-lis: 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").

fleur de sel: 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 most notably in the town of Guérande (Fleur de Sel de Guérande being the most revered), but also in Noirmoutier, Ile de Ré and Camargue.

foie gras: fatty liver; usually the liver of overfed goose, hence: pâté de foie gras, pâté made from goose liver.

folie à deux: 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: an overpowering and unforeseeable event, especially when talking about weather (often appears in insurance contracts).

forte: Lit. "strong point" (of a sword). Strength, expertise, one's strong point.

froideur: coldness (for behavior and manners only).

G

gaffe: blunder

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". Clumsy, tactless.

gaucherie: boorishness, clumsiness.

Gendarme: a member of the gendarmerie; colloquially, a policeman

Gendarmerie: a military body charged with police duties

genre: a type or class, such as "the thriller genre".

gîte: furnished vacation cottage typically in rural France.

glissade: slide down a slope.

Grand Prix: lit. "Great Prize"; a type of motor racing.

Grand Guignol: a horror show, named after a French theater famous for its frightening plays and bloody special effects. (Guignol can be used in French to describe a ridiculous person, in the same way that clown might be used in English.)

grenadier: a specialized soldier, first established for the throwing of grenades and later as elite troops.

H

habitué: one who regularly frequents a place.^[19]

haute couture: lit. "high sewing": Paris-based custom-fitted clothing; trend-setting fashion

haute cuisine: lit. "high cooking": upscale gastronomy.

haute école: lit. "high school": advanced horsemanship.

hauteur: lit. "height": arrogance.^[20]

haut monde: lit. the "high world": fashionable society.

Honi soit qui mal y pense: "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 (modern French writes honni instead of Old French honi).

hors de combat: 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 [main] work": appetizer.

I

idée fixe: lit. "fixed idea": obsession; in music, a leitmotiv.

impasse: a situation offering no escape, as a difficulty without solution, an argument where no agreement is possible, etc.; a deadlock.^[21]

ingénu(e): an innocent young man/woman, used particularly in reference to a theatrical stock character who is entirely virginal and wholesome. L'Ingénu is a famous novella written by Voltaire.

J

j'accuse: "I accuse"; used generally in reference to a political or social indictment (alluding to the title of Émile Zola's exposé of the Dreyfus affair, 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, 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 chose to use to describe his feelings over the events of September 16, 1992 ('Black Wednesday').

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.

jeu d'esprit: lit. "play of spirit": a witty, often light-hearted, comment or composition

jeunesse dorée: lit. "gilded youth"; name given to a body of young dandies, also called the Muscadins, who, after the fall of Robespierre, fought against the Jacobins. Today used for youthful offspring, particularly if bullying and vandalistic, of the affluent.^[22]

joie de vivre: "joy of life/living".

L

laïcité: separation of the State and the different Churches (at first, it concerned especially Catholicism). In France, where the concept originated, it means an absence of religious interference in government affairs and government interference in religious affairs. But the concept is often assimilated and changed by other countries. For example, in Belgium, it usually means the secular-humanist movement and school of thought.

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.

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 of Louisiana, who would say profitez des bons moments (enjoy the good moments).

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.

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).^[23]

louche: of questionable taste, but also someone or something that arouses somebody's suspicions.^[24]

Louis Quatorze: "Louis XIV" (of France), the Sun King, usually a reference to décor or furniture design. Also the namesake of the winner of the 1996 Preakness.

Louis Quinze: "Louis XV" (of France), associated with the rococo style of furniture, architecture and interior decoration

M

macramé: coarse lace work made with knotted cords.

madame: a woman brothel-keeper (Fowler's Modern English Usage, 3rd edition, p. 475).^[25] In French, a title of respect for an older or married woman (literally "my lady").

mademoiselle: lit. "my noble young lady": young unmarried lady, miss.

malaise: a general sense of depression or unease.

mange tout: another phrase describing 'peas' (lit. "Eat-all," because some peas can be cooked and eaten with their pod.)

manqué: unfulfilled; failed.

Mardi gras: Fat Tuesday, the last day of eating meat before Lent. Note that "gras" is not capitalized.

marque: a model or brand.

matériel: supplies and equipment, particularly in a military context (French meaning is broader and corresponds more to "hardware")

mauvais quart d'heure: lit. "bad quarter hour": a short unpleasant or uncomfortable moment.

mélange: a mixture.

mêlée: a confused fight; a struggling crowd.

ménage à trois: lit. "household for three": a sexual arrangement between three people.^[26]

métier: a field of work or other activity; usually one in which one has special ability or training.

milieu: social environment; setting (has also the meaning of "middle" 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: 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: editing.

le 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).

motif: a recurrent thematic element.

moue: a pursing together of the lips to indicate dissatisfaction, a pout.

mousse: a whipped dessert or a hairstyling foam; in French, means any type of foam

N

né, née: lit. "born": a man's/woman's birth name (maiden name for a woman), e.g., "Martha Washington, née Dandridge."

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.

nom de guerre: pseudonym to disguise the identity of a leader of a militant group, literally "war name," used in France for "pseudonym".^[27]

nom de plume: lit. "pen name": author's pseudonym. Originally an English phrase, now also used in France.

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 cuisine: new cuisine.

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

objet trouvé: an ordinary object, as a piece of driftwood, a shell, or a manufactured article, that is treated as an object of art by one who finds it aesthetically pleasing.^[28]

œuvre: "work," in the sense of an artist's work; by extension, an artist's entire body of work.

omelette: dish made from beaten eggs cooked quickly in a pan.

opéra bouffe: comedy, satire, parody or farce.

outré: exceeding the lines of propriety; eccentric in behavior or appearance in an inappropriate way

P

pain au chocolat: lit. "chocolate bread". Unlike that which its name may suggest, it's 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 air mail. The meaning is broader in French, it means by plane in general.

par excellence: "by excellence": quintessential.^[29]

parc fermé: lit. "closed park". A secure area at a Grand Prix 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. It's actually the phonetic form of the French word parcours, which means "run." Also known as, or the predecessor to, "free running", developed by Sébastien Foucan.

parole: speech, more specifically the individual, personal phenomenon of language.

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.

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.^[30]

père: lit. "father", used after a man's surname to distinguish a father from a son, as in "George Bush père."

peloton: in cycling, the main group of riders in a road race.

petite bourgeoisie: often anglicised as "petty bourgeoisie," used to designate the upper middle class.

la petite mort: lit. "the little death"; an expression for orgasm.

Pied-Noir: 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 applied to the city house as opposed to the country estate of the wealthy.^[31]

pince-nez: lit. "nose-pincher", a type of spectacles without temple arms.

piste: referring to skiing at a ski area (on piste) versus skiing in the back country (off piste).

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.

plongeur (fem. plongeuse): a male (or female) dishwasher.

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.

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 porticolike 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. The original is from Voltaire's Candide and referred to the execution of Admiral John Byng.^[32]

pourboire: lit. "for drink"; gratuity, tip; donner un pourboire: to tip.

prairie: Prairie is the French word for meadow. Great natural meadows of long grass.

prêt-à-porter: lit. "ready to wear"; clothing off the shelf, in contrast to haute couture.

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.

protégé(e): lit. "protected"; a man/woman who receives support from an influential mentor.^[33]

provocateur: an agitator, a polemicist.

Q

Quai d'Orsay: address of the French foreign ministry in Paris, used to refer to the ministry itself.

Quatorze juillet: "14th July" Bastille Day. 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 horreur!: What a horrible thing! (can be used sarcastically).

R

raconteur: a storyteller.^[34]

raison d'être: "reason for being": justification or purpose of existence.

rapport: to be in someone's "good graces"; to be in synch with someone; "I've developed a rapport with my co-workers"; French for: relationship.

rapprochement: the establishment of cordial relations, often used in diplomacy.^[35]

reconnaissance: scouting; like connoisseur. Modern French uses an "a," never a "o" (as in reconnoissance). In French, it also means 'gratitude'.

renaissance: meaning rebirth, a cultural movement in the 14-17th centuries.

répertoire: a stock of plays, dances, or pieces that a company or a performer knows or is prepared to perform; the whole body of items that are regularly performed.

reportage: reporting; journalism.

répondez s'il vous plaît. (RSVP): Please reply. Though francophones may use more usually "prière de répondre," it is common enough. (Note: RSLP [Répondre s'il lui plaît] is used on old-fashioned invitations written in the 3rd person, usually in "Script" typography — at least in Belgium.)

restaurateur: a restaurant owner.^[36]

riposte: a quick retort in speech or action, or in fencing, a quick thrust after parrying a lunge.^[37]

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

roi fainéant: lit. "do-nothing king": an expression first used about the 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.

rôle: a part or function of a person in a situation or an actor in a play.

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

sabotage: subversive destruction, from the practice of workers fearful of industrialization destroying machines by tossing their sabots ("wooden shoes") into machinery.

saboteur: one who commits sabotage

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").

sans: without.^[38]

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. "Sautéed" is an incorrect form, as it would be the equivalent in French of "jumpeded".

savant: lit. "knowing": a wise or learned person; in English, one exceptionally gifted in a narrow skill.

savoir-faire: lit. "know how to do"; to respond appropriately to any situation.

savoir-vivre: fact of following conventional norms within a society; etiquette (etiquette also comes from a French word, étiquette).

silhouette: the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black.

sobriquet: an assumed name, a nickname (often used in a pejorative way in French).^[39]

soi-disant: lit. "oneself saying"; so-called; self-described.

soigné: fashionable; polished.

soirée: an evening party.

sombre: dismal; melancholy a sombre mood; dim, gloomy, or shadowy. Or if used for a colour and clothes (sober, dull, or dark).

sommelier: a wine steward.

soupçon: a very small amount (In French, can also mean suspicion)

soupe du jour: lit. "soup of the day", meaning the particular kind of soup offered that day.

succès d'estime: lit. "success of esteem"; [critical success], sometimes used pejoratively.^[40]

T

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 of heraldic emblazoning.

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.

torsade de pointes: meaning "twisting around a point," used to describe a particular type of heart rhythm.

touché: lit. "touched" or "hit!": acknowledgment of an effective counterpoint; comes from the fencing vocabulary.

tour de force (also tour-de-force): lit. "feat of strength": a masterly or brilliant stroke, creation, effect, or accomplishment.^[41]^[42]

tout court: lit. "in 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. Often mangled as "toot sweet."

tranche: lit. "slice": one of several different classes of securities involved a single financial transaction.^[43]

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.

tricoteuse: a woman who knits and gossips; from the women who knitted and sewed during the executions of the French Revolution.

trompe-l'œil: lit. "trick the eye"; photograph-like realism in fine-art painting or decorative painting in a home.

trou de loup: lit. "wolf hole"; a kind of booby trap.

V

venu(e): invited man/woman for a show, once ("come"); unused in modern French, though it can still be used in a few expressions like bienvenu/e (literally "well come": welcome) or le premier venu (anyone; literally, "the first who came").

venue: location of an event ("the venue for the football match is the high school stadium") or action ("the bride evaluated several venues for her wedding").

vin de pays: lit. "country wine"; wine of a lower designated quality than appellation contrôlée.

vinaigrette: diminutive of vinaigre (vinegar): salad dressing of oil and vinegar.

vis-à-vis (also vis-a-vis): lit. "face to face [with]": in comparison with or in relation to; opposed to. From vis, an obsolete word for "face", replaced by visage in contemporary French.^[44] In French, it's 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 […]!: "Long live…!"; lit. "Live"; as in "Vive la France!", Vive la République!, Vive la Résistance!, Vive le Canada!, or Vive le Québec libre! (long live free Quebec, a sovereigntist slogan famously used by French President Charles de Gaulle in 1967 in Montreal). Unlike viva (Spanish) or vivat (Latin), it cannot be used alone; it needs a complement.

vive la différence!: lit. "[long] live the difference"; originally referring to the difference between the sexes, the phrase may be used to celebrate the difference between any two groups of people (or simply the general diversity of individuals).

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: a complete reversal of opinion or position, about face.

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?: "Do you want to sleep with me (tonight)?" In French, coucher is vulgar in this sense. In English it appears in Tennessee Williams's play A Streetcar Named Desire, as well as in the lyrics of a popular song by Labelle, "Lady Marmalade."

voyeur: lit. "someone who sees"; a peeping tom.^[45]

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 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.

Not used as such in French

Through the evolution of the language, many words and phrases are no longer used in French. Also, there are those that, even though grammatically correct, do not have the same meaning in French as the English words that derive from them.

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.

agent provocateur: a police spy who infiltrates a group to disrupt or discredit it. In French it has both a broader and more specific meaning. The Académie française, in its dictionary, says that an agent provocateur is a person working for another State or a political party (for example), whose mission is to provoke troubles in order to justify repression.

appliqué: an inlaid or attached decorative feature. Lit. "applied," though this meaning doesn't exist as such in French, the dictionary of the Académie française indicates that in the context of the arts, "arts appliqués" is synonym of decorative arts.

après-ski: after skiing socializing after a ski session; in French, this word refers to boots used to walk in snow (e.g. MoonBoots).

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.

arrêt à bon temps: A counterattack that attempts to take advantage of an uncertain attack in fencing. 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 French expression is close, though: "s'arrêter à temps" (to stop in time).

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.

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.

à la mode: fashionable; also, with ice cream (in the U.S.) or with cheese in some U.S. regions. In French, it mainly means "fashionable" but is rarely a culinary term usually meaning something cooked with carrots and onions, as in boeuf à la mode.

bête noire: a scary or unpopular person, idea, or thing, or the archetypical 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 admits it for things or ideas too. Colloquial in French.

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.

boutonnière: In English, a boutonnière is a flower placed in the buttonhole of a suit jacket. In French, a boutonnière is the buttonhole itself.

c'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre: "it is magnificent, but it is not war" — quotation from Marshal Pierre Bosquet commenting on the charge of the Light Brigade. Unknown quotation in French.

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)".

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.

chanson: a classical "art song," equiv. to the German lied or the Italian aria; or, in Russian, a cabaret-style sung narrative, usually rendered by a guttural male voice with guitar accompaniment. In French, it simply means a song.

claque: a group of admirers; in old French, the claque was a group of people paid to applaud or disturb a piece at the theatre; in modern French, it means "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.

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 (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 (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, which means something else altogether in French.

début: first public performance of an entertainment personality or group. In French, it means "beginning." The English sense of the word exist only when in plural form: [faire] ses débuts [sur scène] (to make one's débuts on the scene).

décolletage: 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.

démarche: a decisive step. In French, it means a preparing step often used in the plural form, or a distinctive way of walking.

dépanneur: 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. In France, a convenience store would be a supérette or épicerie [de quartier].

émigré: one who has emigrated for political reasons. In French, it means someone who emigrated. To imply the political reason, French would use of the word exilé (exiled).

encore: A request to repeat a performance, as in Encore!, lit. 'again'; also used to describe additional songs played at the end of a gig. Francophones would say «Une autre!» ('Another one!') to request « un rappel » or « un bis ».

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 choeur ([like a chorus]). Also, en masse refers to numerous people or objects (a crowd or a mountain of things).

en suite: as a set (not to be confused with ensuite, meaning "then"). 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.

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: 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.

forte: 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.

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 (also fig.).

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).

nostalgie de la boue: "yearning for the mud"; attraction to what is unworthy, crude or degrading.^[46] Though grammatically correct, it is not used in French.

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. In French it is a bathrobe. A dressing gown is a robe de chambre (lit. a bedroom dress).

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/).

portemanteau (pl. portemanteaux): a blend; 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 portemanteau is un mot-valise (lit. a suitcase word).

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.

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. In French, it means "the first", and is used only for a live performance.

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.

recherché: lit. searched; obscure; pretentious. In French, means 'sophisticated' or 'delicate', or simply 'studied', without the negative connotations of the English.

rendezvous: lit. "go to"; a meeting, appointment, or date in French, but in English has taken on other overtones. Always hyphenated in French: rendez-vous. Its only accepted abbreviation in French is RDV.

reprise: repetition of previous music in a suite, programme, etc. In French, it may mean an alternate version of a piece of music, or a cover version. To express the repetition of a previous musical theme, French would exclusively use the Italian term 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)

risqué: 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.

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): a full-course meal offered at a fixed price. In French, it is a type of lodging where, unlike a hotel, you eat with other patrons and the host. Lit. "the host's table": one eats at the host's table whatever he has prepared for himself or herself, at the family's table, with a single menu. Generally, the menu is composed of traditional courses of the region and the number of patrons is limited.

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.

vignette: a brief description; a short scene. In French, it is a small picture, and now in some European countries also means 'permit for driving on motorways.'

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 is written "aide de camp" (without any hyphens) in French.

après-garde: Avant-garde's antonym. French (and most English) speakers use arrière-garde (either in a military or artistic context).

cinquefoil: five-petal, five-leaf flower of the genus Potentilla, family Rosaceae; also a circular 5-lobed ornamental design. Spelt quintefeuille in French.

cri de cœur: "cry from the heart": an impassioned outcry, as of entreaty or protest. In French, the exact expression is "cri du cœur".

demimonde: 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) of 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. The phrase has its etymological origins in French - 'double' having the same meaning in both languages and 'entendre' meaning "to hear"; however the English phrase is grammatically incorrect and is a corruption of the original French phrase "à double entente", meaning a double understanding or double interpretation (literally, "with a double hearing"). The modern French rendering is "double sens" and the English phrase is more or less meaningless.

homage: term used for films that are influenced by other films, in particular by the works of a notable director. French word is written "hommage," and is used for all shows of admiration, respect, or in a close sense for dedication of an artwork to another.

in lieu (of): "in place (of)": a hybrid phrase, partially translated from the existing French phrase au lieu.

léger de main: "light of hand": sleight of hand, usually in the context of deception or the art of stage magic tricks. Means nothing in French and has no equivalent.

maître d': translates as master o'. Francophones would say maître d'hôtel (head waiter) instead (French never uses "d'" alone).

negligee: A robe or a dressing gown, usually of sheer or soft fabric for women. French uses négligé (masculine form, with accents) or nuisette. Négligée qualifies a woman who neglects her appearance.

pièce de résistance: the best; the main meal, literally "a piece that resists." Francophones use plat de résistance (main dish).

Rouge: literally "red" in Canadian football, 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.

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."^[47] (Anglo-Norman voir [truth] is etymologically unrelated to the modern French voir [to see].)^[48] 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 IPA.

SECURITAY: (sécurité, "safety") the following is a safety message or warning, the lowest level of danger.
PAN PAN: (panne, "breakdown") the following is a message concerning a danger to a person or ship, the next level of danger.
MAYDAY: ([venez] m'aider, come to help me"; note that 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 channels.)
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.

References

External links

Combined Communications-Electronics Board
, Helicon Publishing, Ltd.
, Harper, D.
French words within complete sentences, text + audio files
Mathematical Words: Origins and Sources (John Aldrich, University of Southampton) See Section on Contribution of French.

This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.

Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.

By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.

List of French phrases