French slang - a part of The Alternative Dictionaries collection.
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See also the Quebecois and Haitian Creole French dictionaries.
drunk 
lit: lit up
to fuck
This
sense has almost replaced the earlier one of "to kiss", which in
contemporary French is "embrasser". Do not use "baiser" to mean "to
kiss" if you don't want to be misunderstood!
to have a hard-on
bander
is commonly used for a bow drawn taut to let the arrow fly. Somehow the
erect penis, hopefully hard, may have a similarity to a bow - just as
in "tirer un coup" it is similar to a loaded gun. bander is not used
with a direct object, but it can certainly be followed by a number of
metaphors: bander comme un cerf (hard as a deer), comme un tigre (like
a tiger). A particularly popular African wood with definite (and
sometimes dangerous) aphrodisiac properties is know as "bois bandé". It
is likely that in an intimate setting Abélard might have said to
Héloïse "je bande pour toi" (i have a boner for you),and in the same
setting she would be proud that he is "un bandeur", but in normal
social intercourse it would not be considered appropriate to use any of
those terms. However, the reverse would be quite possible: "débander",
i.e., literally to become limp again, is also used metaphorically for
"to chicken out". "Alors, mec, tu débandes?" - "Are you chicken?".
prim and proper (literally).
Prim
and proper translates easily into bourgeois, upper middle-class,
excessively formal, conservative,and, by and large, stuffy. French
society hangs on to a large number of formalities that make the
appearance of individuals (in terms of the language they use,the
clothes they wear, the company they keep, the attitudes they
affect)incredibly important. The proverb "l'habit fait le moine" (you
judge the monk by his clothes, i.e.the book by its cover), although it
can also be used in the negative (l'habit ne fait pas le moine)has some
truth for most people. Female politicians, in particular, are expected
to look very BCBG if they want to be successful...otherwise, they might
be considered akin to fishmongers, using vulgar language like the first
female prime minister, Edith Cresson, who was judged more by her
appearance than by anything else...negatively, of course. Even though
she was, on the whole, very BCBG, and only mimicked popular forms of
speech.
Used to describe something very chic
Acronym
for "Bon chic, bon genre". Originally used to describe high fashion, or
the ultimate in good taste. Now often used disparagingly to describe
pretentious "yuppies".
cocaine/horse
litt. translation: a fight. Prendre de la bigornette.
cock, prick
"Bitte" has the literal sense of "bollard".
large, fat, drooping boobs
The
word can be considered somewhat vulgar - except to males drooling on
big-chested women who obviously have not chosen the artificial firmness
of silicone. In fact, "bloblos" is a vulgarizing variation of a word
found commonly in children's language, "lolos", the source of milk,
commonly known as "du lolo". Songwriter Serge Gainsbourg made ample use
of "les lolos de lola" in his songs about dreamgirl Lola Rastaquouère
(obviously not his wife, Jane Birkin, considering herself the most
flat-chested actress in show business).
chaos, shit; literally 'brothel'
better when preceded by 'putain de'
to work
Very commonly used expression referring to working at one's job.
pissed, drunk
[buRe] A very commonly used variation of "ivre"
wanking (noun), masturbation
a wank, an act of masturbation
wanker, insignificant or stupid person
mildly offensive
to perform cunnilingus
Literal translation: "to graze the watercress."
poo, doo-doo
Found in certain non-slang combinations such as "caca d'oie", a type of green.
to be cold
Esp. used in: Ça caille!: It's cold, or it's freezing! and, Putain, je me caille!: Shit, I'm cold!
to beat the shit out of someone
lit: to break someone's face Ex: Je casserai la gueuele à Jean -- I'm going to beat the shit out of Jean.
this fucking machine
can be used in any phrase
coal
"aller
au charbon" is possibly to go down underground to mine it (which was
common in several parts of France) or go to the cellar to bring some
for the stoves, as was common until the 1940s in many places. Borrowed
from the 19th century, the expression "aller au charbon" was used by
former prime minister Raymond Barre, a very non-political politician
recruited for his supposed economic skills, when president Giscard
d'Estaing forced him to be a candidate in a district of Lyons - a town
where he became an essentially absentee mayor a few years later, French
politics being a mysterious interplay between local (i.e., unimportant)
and national (i.e., supernatural) politics. "Aller au charbon",
somehow, could have meant: going down to the level of "les
charbonniers" (the coal-people), i.e. the vulgum pecus, me, you, and
all the other voters who should have been flattered to have the
president-proclaimed best French economist as representative.
pussy
Refers to the female genitalia.
The bald one with a turtleneck
A
large number of French males being uncircumcized, the analogy is
obvious between the uncapped penile head with the folds of the foreskin
pulled back under the tip, and a bald man wearing a turtleneck. Chauve
should be pronounced somewhat like "shove" in English.
the runs, the trots
Diarrhoea
to shit
Also used in "tu me fais chier" ("you make me puke").
the Chinaman - i.e., a penis
Is
it because the opening at the tip is somewhat more like a slit than an
actual hole? Whatever the cause, our Chinese comrades are often put to
good use with the metaphor "se polir le Chinois" (to polish the
Chinaman), for the very sweet act of giving yourself pleasure.
the bog (UK), the can (US)
dick
Commonly
used in phrases like "couper le cigare" (to circumcize, in kids'
slang), "fumer le cigare" (to give a blowjob). The analogy can be
pursued further in the latter case, as some women will not only be able
to smoke the joint, but will also "avaler la fumée" (swallow the smoke,
literally, obviously the semen). The comparison between the penis and a
cigar can even be found in more literary circumstances: in a scene of
the novel Le Temps des Anges by Swiss-French ewriter Catherine Colomb,
a banker cuts the tip off a Cuban cigar with his teeth...and thinks
about a Jewish friend of his.
to shine (shoes, floors)
a
common verb that was used in a cryptic way by the first female prime
minister of France, socialist Edith Cresson, when she answered during a
scrum: "la bourse, j'en ai rien à cirer" (the stock exchange, i don't
have any use for it). It didn't help her political career, which was
quite short, and convinced the French, who deep down are quite
conservative, that she was too vulgar for the job. Especially when she
accused the British of being usually gay, and the Japanese of being
bastards.
clear as negro's ass
clit
Apart
from medical journals, noone uses the complete form "clitoris" for what
most females consider the center of pleasure (unless they had the
misfortune of coming from some African country where it's considered in
poor taste to keep it). A young lady will not hesitate in requesting a
reasonably good lover to give the little toy a tongue bath, as in
"lèche-moi le clito, mec" (lick my clit, man). Some men will respond to
such a request by "descendre à la cave", literally going down into the
basement.
cunt
Refers to the female genitalia.
cunt, bastard, wanker, etc
Insult towards a man. Female form: "conne".
cunt, bastard, wanker, etc
Insult towards a man. Female form: "connarde".
cunt, bitch, etc
Insult towards a woman. No male form.
balls, bollocks
Testicles.
wet slit
Commonly
used when for some reason a male wants to use a slightly unpleasant
noun for the genitals of a female - hopefully one he knows well, unless
he really despises her. It insists on the wetness of the slit that
graces women's bellies, as "mouille" indicates...as in "elle mouille"
(she's getting wet).
arse (US ass), bottom
Not as strong as in English as this word is also used non-offensively to mean the bottom of an object.
to be drunk
lit: in the vines of the Lord.
bloody, fucking
Used after a noun as an intensifier. Eg: "putain de merde!" ("fucking hell!").
tits
There
are numerous ways to call what the breasts of females. "doudounes" is a
nice, relatively recent one (the 70s, the phonetically repetitive form
probably influenced by the rise of creole words in European French).
Other include: "les roberts", "les nénés", "les nichons". Swiss writer
Alexandre Voisard, obsessed with breasts, even wrote a hilarious short
story about "le club des Robert", where the double-entendre obviously
comes from the fact that Robert is a common first name, but also known
to all as a tit.
looking for sex partners
Literal
translation: dredge. Gay slang for "cruising", "Faire la drague": go
looking for sex partners. Used exclusively by gay men, not by straight
men looking for women.
to trick, to jerk around
Commonly used. Example of popular use: "Sans déconner!" meaning "No kidding!" or "No shit!"
to trick, to jerk around
Commonly used. Example: "sans déconner!" ("no kidding!" or "no shit!")
to take Joe Blow to the circus.
Popaul
(also known as Popol) loves the circus. Except Popaul looks a bit
already like the pink trunk of a tiny elephant - in fact, just like a
dick. For the circus, well...it's usually hidden at the junction of a
lady's thighs. Needless to say, Popaul enjoys the circus
immensely...just like kids watching clowns and tigers erupt in laughter.
intensely annoying
Example of use: "Que tu es emmerdant!" ("You really piss me off!" (ie "You annoy me intensely")).
to bugger, to fuck
Refers to anal sex only. Derived from "cul" (qv).
bastard, cunt, etc
Insult used towards a man. Derived from "enculer" (qv).
bastard, shit, etc
Same sense as "encule".
Take your scab out, I'll fuck in the pus.
It
will shock litterally everyone within hearing distance. It is used as a
comic sentence said to a girl from a man (or a lesbian).
a prostitute
"Fille"
is the normal word for "girl" or "daughter" but only if it is used with
some kind of descriptive word as in "ma fille" (my daughter) or "une
jeune fille" (a young girl). This piece of information might be of some
importance if you should visit France. Not every dictionary mentions
this fact!
sonofabitch
police constable, cop
queen
Term for a gay man, especially one who is effeminate. Literal meaning: "madwoman".
sperm, "cum"
Derived
from the verb "foutre": to fuck. Gay slang for shooting cum on someone
during sex. "Donne-moi ton foutre" = Give me your cum. "Je veux lecher
ton foutre" = I want to swallow your cum.
to bugger up, to screw up
To
ruin, to spoil. Examples of use: "On est foutu!" ("We're done for!",
"We're finished!"); "La voiture est foutue" ("The car is
knackered/buggered/fucked (US)" (ie beyond repair)).
to fuck
Rarely used except in "va te faire foutre!" (qv). The preferred slang is "baiser" (qv).
to puke, barf, hurl
dildo
dyke
A lesbian.
woman
synonym
to pétasse, pouffiasse, greluche and femme. Not very nice, but in
France, it should not be enough for receiving a slap.
to come
Used in the sexual sense
cop
Urban language but don't say that to a cop...
You'r mother is a whore
as "fils de pute"
Let it drop!
[lEs'beto~] Verlan version of "laisse tomber"
the Redcoats (the Red Flag, etc...)
French,
as any other language, has numerous periphrastic and euphemistic
expressions to indicate female menstruation, a phenomenon that our
male-dominated societies, until recently, did not consider dignified
enough to even mention in society. The image of blood leads
automatically to "les Anglais ont débarqué" (the Redcoats have landed),
which proves how much the French loved the English. Other potential
phrases include "Ma tante Rose a débarqué" (Aunt Rosie's arrived),
"j'ai mes fleurs" (i've got my flowers - roses, probably), "j'ai mes
ours" (i've got my bears), or the flat and very BCBG "je suis
indisposée", equivalent to "I'm sick" in English and "Ich bin krank" in
German. To be fair, let's admit that Tampax and other tampons certainly
changed the outlook on periods: until then, most women had to wear big
chunks of linen between their legs, and male children were inevitably
exposed to bloody rags in chamberpots or other sanitary fixtures,
certainly reinforcing negative visions of menstrual blood.
to sacrifice to raving dogs
the
end of the Mitterand régime, after 14 years of presidency for François
Mitterand, were definitely marred by an endless list of financial
scandals, both left and right. Several politicians even went to jail.
Mitterand's last socialist prime minister, an unpleasant and ambitious
yes-man who had become a reasonably competent but politically cloutless
Finance minister, Pierre Bérégovoy, took the sound beating of the
socialists in 1992 as his personal defeat...and felt threatened when it
was revealed that he had not only been involved in shady deals to
please the president's friends, but also for personal gain (primarily,
an apartment in a luxury district of Paris, symbol of success for him,
as the only member of the socialist elite who really had no advanced
degrees and a popular origin). He committed suicide, and, in his
funeral eulogy, the president launched into some stinging words against
those who had "livré aux chiens" (thrown to the dogs) the "honor" of
Bérégovoy. He meant, primarily, journalists.
Used to wish someone tremendous good luck
Abbreviation
for the phrase "Merde A La Puissance Treize!" which is translated as
"Shit to the thirteenth power". Origin unknown. Used as a friendly
term. Example: a friend of yours is about to take an exam. You would
say "MALPT!" to wish him well!
pimp
although
the official word is "proxénète", noone but the cops and the courts
uses it. A pimp is "un maquereau", and, when female, "une maquerelle",
even "la mère maquerelle". Un maquereau is of course, literally, a fish
(mackerel). See also "merlan" et "morue", to see how seafood
impregnated French popular language, probably because fishmongers
(particularly the female) were considered to have as colorful a
language as mule drivers: "un langage de charretier" (a cart-driver's
vulgar speech) is no better than "une langue de poissonière" (a female
fishmonger's speech).
guy, dude, bloke
Said
to be the Verlan version of "homme." How reversing this word produces
"mec," I don't know. It's very common, found in print and rap music as
well as conversations.
an equivalent of : a damn Arab!
A
melon is obviously grown in hot, Mediterranean climates. The metaphor
is therefore easy to understand. There are numerous words for the group
(albeit 5,000,000 strong) that racist French people despise as much as
American racists despise(d) niggers at one point: "les bougnoules",
"les bicots", "les ratons" - and, when they are of Arab origin and
French citizens (the nightmare of fascist leader Jean-Marie Le Pen!),
"les beurs", "les petits beurs", and their female counterparts, "les
beurettes".
shit
crap(py), shit(ty) (adjs)
hairdresser
another word of maritime origin. Not to be confused with un maquereau!
a woman, une femme
[moef] This is the Verlan version of "femme". The syllables are reversed, and "eu" is added
a low-level whore
morue
(originally cod), like "merlan" or "maquereau", is a word referring
originally to fish. "la morue" was obviously the most common fish, from
the Middle Ages on (the only one you could dry, salt, and keep for all
those periods when you had to eat fish). furthermore, unwashed female
genitals (and, from the 16th to the 19th century, washing was not a
priority of most French people, rich or poor)definitely tend, after a
few days, to smell in the not-so-refined way of not-so-fresh fish, be
it cod or any other...
A real fucking dick like a son of a bitch!!!
vulva
Commonly
used. More descriptive (the female external genitals look like an open
mussel, and somehow smell like it)than insulting (like con or
cramouille for instance). This term has of course led to a lot of
humorous double-entendre, as in the late 19th century popular song "à
la pêche aux moules, moules, moules, je veux m'en aller maman...". To
be pronounced somewhat like "mool" for English speakers.
threesome
This term enjoys very popular usage in the States; pronounced "may-naj-sha-twa".
fuck your mother
very common in the suburbs, especially among migrant population. Can also be abbreviated as "Ta mèreŠ"
vagina, female genitals
(Pronounced
as noonn) commonly used as the word reffering to the female genitals.
Used in a replacement for vulva in a normal non formal conversation.
onion - in fact, the ass or the asshole
The
reason for the analogy is probably that they're all round-shaped.
L'oignon is therefore the equivalent of "le cul", and, just like it, we
can consider the whole or the part: "lui carrer dans l'oignon", in
slang, is to shove it in her (or alternatively his) asshole.
dad
to take a dump, crap, shit
Local slang used in Bretagne. Literally, "to parachute a Senegalese."
Homosexual applied to men only.
Very common use.
blowjob
Faire une pipe: To give a blowjob
pee, wee(-wee)
"faire pipi": "to do/have a wee(-wee)/pee"
to pee, to piss
More
colloquial than offensive in French. Also used in senses such as "son
nez pisse du sang" ("blood is pouring from his/her nose")
a man who is a stud, a real hunk
Literal translation: hairy, shaggy. Gay slang for men with hairy chests or with moustaches or beards.
a puppet - in this case, a duck
although
"un polichinelle" will be used in an amused way to indicate a kid, the
full original expression is "elle a un polichinelle dans le tiroir",
i.e. the equivalent of "she's got a duck in the oven"...in other words,
she's pregnant. Just like periods were only referred to in an oblique
way, well-bred people did not say about a woman (until the 1950s) that
she was pregnant, except maybe for country folk who might have used
"elle est grosse" as for animals. "Elle est dans une situation
intéressante" was quite common until the 1940s. "Elle attend un bébé"
would even have been too crude for children: they might have known that
"les bébés" were not born in "les choux" (cabbages), or brought by "les
cigognes" (the storks). Between males, however, crude speech was
required...and "elle a un polichinelle dans l'tiroir" was, and still
is, a common way to indicate that a lady is pregnant.
bitch, hore
Very rude : use it to talk about some (bad) girl but never say it to the (bad) girl herself !
cop (litt. : chiken)
Cops know this word but hate it !
push-shit
homosexual - for men only :-)
plonger (dans l eau) // to dive into the water (Didier est ce vraiment bien serieux??)
whore, tart, hooker
Also used as an insult towards a woman.
bitch, cow, etc
Derogatory term for a woman.
bloody hell!, fucking hell!
As an interjection.
bitch, cow, etc
Derogatory term for a woman. Short form of "putain".
whore
Short form of "putain"
They are synonyms of queer, gays, homosexual.
Commonly
used words for homosexuals. The word in parentheses refers to the
gender. Note that the "grande folle" refers more to a drag queen.
queer, poof
Variant of "pede" (qv).
queer, faggot
Derogatory term for a gay man.
to fart
When
conjugated, this verb takes the grave accent in the
"je/tu/il/elle/on/ils/elles" forms, but NOT in the "nous/vous" forms,
e.g., "Je pète" but "Vous petez." The verb "répeter" has an acute
accent on the first syllable and should be pronounced that way;
otherwise, the unwary foreigner will utter "Repetez, s'il vous plaît,"
which means "Please fart again" instead of "Répetez, s'il vous plaît,"
i.e., "Please, repeat [that]."
to have an inflated opinion of oneself. Literally, to fart higher than [one's] asshole
Mon prof pète plus haut de son cul.= My teacher's opinion of his own abilities is exaggerated. See "péter."
prick, cock
Literal meaning: "tail" (cf Latin "penis" meaning "tail").
to sweep the chimney - i.e., to screw
the
in-out movement of the penis into the vagina or the rectum is of course
a natural metaphor for the movement of the chimney-sweeper's brush, as
it goes up and down the chimney at the end of its rope or long rod. The
phrase "en avant, Simone, c'est moi qui ramone!", although playing on
the rhyming sounds of Simone and ramone, does not necessarily, however,
indicate intercourse: it's basically a way to say "let's go!" with a
little phonetic twist. Where the French use "ramoner", Acadians use
"râper" (to grate), which has little to do with a tougher quality of
genitals due to the Maritime climate of Eastern Canada, but the
movement of "va-et-vient", coming and going, associated with the
grating of potatoes for "la râpure". See Acadian/Cajun dictionary for
additional details.
bastard
bitch, slut
to wank, to masturbate
Literally "to wobble oneself".
to give yourself a hand job
This
one is easy: most verbs relating to male (and sometimes female)
masturbation, unless they are elaborate metaphors (see "chinois" for
one)are reflexive verbs, the very example of the poor definition French
grammars give of reflexive verbs: an action performed by the subject
upon himself. The most standard verb is therefore "se masturber",
followed by "se branler", but "se palucher", based on "paluche" meaning
hand, comes close as a common form for what priests and conservative
psychologists came to call l'"auto-gratification" (self-gratification)
during the 1950s.
three piece combo
it
isn't hard to figure out what the three pieces are: the prick and its
two balls. It is another version of "la veuve et les deux orphelines",
i.e. the normal male genital apparatus. The word "service" in this case
is a metaphor borrowed from table vocabulary (utensils, tea or coffee
cup with cream and sugar).
queen
Derogatory term for a gay man.
party
This
is the Verlan version of "fe'te". The syllables are reversed, the final
"e" is dropped and "eu" is added in place of of "e'".
to pull or to shoot
The
most common regular meaning of "tirer", i.e. to pull, can be found
sometimes in popular phrases like the reflexive "se tirer la queue" (to
pull on your putz). Most common, however, is the metaphor of a weapon
shooting. Men are known to be fond of "tirer un coup" (to shoot their
load), usually in an amorous battle on female battlegrounds. "Tirer" is
sometimes used alone; it can also be used with other objects, like
"tirer sa crampe" (literally, shooting to end your penile cramps). A
bedroom may be referred to as "un champ de tir" (a shooting gallery).
An unhappy pregnant lady may very well use it in a cynical way : "Oh,
vous, les mecs, vous tirez votre coup, et vous vous foutez du reste"
(You guys only want to shoot your wad and don't care about the
consequences).
a man with whom a gay man has had sex
This
word was adopted directly from the American slang "Trick" with the same
meaning. Another example of "Franglais". The word is used extensively
by Renaud Camus in his novel, Tricks.
hard-on
An erection. Used in the phrase "avoir la tringle" ("to have a hard-on"). Literal meaning: "rod".
to fuck (see tringle)
to fuck (see tringle)
a boner
la
trique is a whipping instrument: "des coups de trique" could only be
erotic in a sado-masochist context. Unless we take the word, as is
taken metaphorically here, as in "la trique" (a fuck), "avoir la
trique" (to be horny as hell), the obvious reference being to the hard
and yet somewhat flexible qualities of the erect virile appendage. The
same idea of a hard instrument, as in "rod" in English, appears in a
word phonetically quite similar to "trique" : "la tringle" (a curtain
rod), the verb "tringler" being commonly used as a transitive verb: "il
l'a tringlée" (he fucked her), "se faire tringler" (to be fucked).
asshole
Is said for a (male) person you consider as ridiculous or stupid. Handle with care !
blowjob
go get fucked up the ass by the Greeks!
refer
this one to the verb "enculer" (to fuck up the ass), but consider it
primarily of use between males: ancient Greeks were considered the
ultimate paederasts, valuing highly the man-boy sexual relationship
(women being there for reproductive purposes only). no wonder, then,
that when the French want to get rid of a real pain...in the ass,
they're sending him to the Athens of antiquity!
fuck off!
Literally "go and get fucked!"
widow - a dick reduced to being wanked
"La
veuve" has several meanings in French, the two better known apart from
its original meaning (a woman left alone because of the death of her
husband, a common occurrence during the many wars of French
history)being: a) the "guillottine", the machine made to cut heads at
the time of the French 1789 Revolution, i.e a widow-maker; and b)the
penis of a lonely man, reduced - like a widow - to solitary hand
pleasures. Usually, "la veuve" can also be known as "la veuve poignet"
(a widowed wrist, obviously the instrument of solitary bliss). She
usually has two children, obviously fatherless, "les deux orphelines"
(the two orphans), i.e. the poor testicles reduced to producing
lonesome semen. Sometimes, however, a member of the female sex (or of
any other persuasion) will come to the help of the poor triad and make
"la veuve et les deux orphelines" as merry as can be.
meat for tires
pedestrian. Pretty obvious if you already crossed a street in Paris.
what a set of knockers!
French
females are usually rather petites, and thre ideal standard for tits
remains the champagne cup - a rather small format, as opposed to the
ample breasts found on American women, for instance. "Y'a du monde au
balcon" indicates that she certainly has an ample chest to greet males
with...It is somewhat analogous to "Es gibt Holz vor der Tür" (there's
a pile of wood before the door) in German. There are unfortunately less
refined ways to indicate that ample knockers do not correspond to the
French small-tit standard: "c'est une vraie vache (laitière)" (she's a
real cow!).
turd
Used in the literal sense of a piece of faeces.