French origin words

Apéritif - before-meal drink

après moi, le déluge - the remark attributed to Louis XY of France; used in reference to the impending end of a functioning French monarchy and predicting the French Revolution. (After me, the deluge.

artiste - a skilled performer, a person with artistic pretensions

art nouveau - a style of decoration and architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (usually bears capitals in French: Art Nouveau)

attaché - a person attached to an embassy; in French is also the past participle of the verb attacher (=to fasten)

au pair - a young foreigner who does domestic chores in exchange for room and board

au revoir! -"See you soon!"; lit. Until the next sight. In French contraction of Au plaisir de vous revoir (=to the pleasure of seeing you again).

avant-garde - 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 the deformation of avant-garde) or "advance guard", in other words, "first to attack" (plural avant-gardes; antonym of arrière-garde).

B

Ballet -a type of dance

beaucoup - a lot of (slang, such as, " beaucoup money" Especially used in New Orleans, LA {Bookoo})

belle - 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)

bête noire -a scary or unpopular person, idea, or thing, or the archetypical scary monster in a story; literally "black beast." There is no native equivalent English phrase.

bon appettite -have a good appetite

bonjour -hello, used to express a greeting; literally "good day".

bon voyage! -have a good trip!

brunette - a brown-haired girl. For brown-haired boy or man, French uses brun and for a woman brune

bureau -office (British English plural bureaux; American English plural bureaus)

C

cachet - a distinctive quality

café - a coffee shop;

café au lait - coffee with milk; or a light-brown color

carte blanche - unlimited authority; literally "white card"

c'est la guerre! -"That's War!"; or "Such is war!" It is sometimes used as an expression to say that war is harsh but that one must accept it.

c'est la mode. - "Such is fashion"

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

c'est magnifique! -"That's great!"; literally it's magnificent

chaise longue - a long chair for reclining;

chanson - song

châteaux en Espagne -literally "castles in Spain"; something that exists only in the imagination (as, "castles in the air" or "pie in the sky”

chef d'œuvre- a masterpiece

cherchez la femme -literally "Look for the woman." (expressing the notion that behind a man’s unusual behavior may be his trying to impress a woman or to cover up an affair)

chic - stylish

chignon -a hairstyle worn in a roll at the nape of the neck

cliché - trite through overuse; a stereotype

clique - a small exclusive group of friends; often used in a pejorative way in French

coquette - a flirtatious girl; a tease

commandant - a commanding officer

comme il faut - as is proper; literally as it should be

There are many words of French origin in English, such as competition, art, table, publicity, police, role, routine, machine, force, and many others that have been and are being anglicized; they are now pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French. A large portion of English vocabulary is of French origin, most derived from, or transmitted via, the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest.

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